Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. Like Deputy Ó Murchú, Wednesdays are a bit crazy for me, juggling all the meetings here in Leinster House. I was following the meeting in my office and have read the opening statements. I thank the witnesses for providing them. To digress briefly, National Broadband Ireland, NBI, regularly appears before the committee. It does a really smart thing whereby it links up individually with committee members a couple of weeks beforehand to ask if they have questions and to identify matters NBI can address. It is fantastic for us and it is fantastic for NBI when it comes in because it probably kills off most of the questions. I reached out to Mr. Waide and his colleagues in the RSA, some of whom are in the Public Gallery. I thank him for that. It was fantastic. Approximately three weeks ago, I met them in Leinster House and I fired about 20 questions at Mr. Waide, so I probably only have one or two left to ask today. For anyone who has tuned in to the proceedings, I make the point that it is a great exercise for bodies and associations that regularly come before the committee to link in with members individually. It probably short-circuits the need for a big meeting here in the committee rooms every so often.

My first question is for Mr. Waide. No-shows at NCT centres are a big issue for the RSA and Applus Ireland. They throws everything out of sync and disrupt the agenda for the day. A mechanic at a garage in Ennis told me that he and his colleagues have a good working knowledge of the issue. They are constantly bringing cars over to the NCT centre in Ennis and they tell me that, on an average day, it could be that four or five people do not show up for a test or cancel late. The mechanic said the garage and car sales industry near the test centre is able to fill those gaps all the time and, therefore, they do not become blanks in the overall day's programme. I ask Mr. Waide to address that point. It seems like there are gaps in the day yet they are being fulfilled. It may be a question more for Mr. Walsh, actually.