Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our constituents feel a great unfairness that they have to wait. They are being told they cannot get a test for a number of months and once they do, it is only a short number of months later that they have to go back for a second test. In the circumstances we are in now, perhaps a process could be put in place. If, due to no fault of the person who owns the car, he or she has had to wait an undue period of time to get a test, a mechanism could kick in so the next test would not fall due until a full 12 months after the car was tested. Something like that needs to be considered to bring balance back to the situation. There are an awful lot of angry people out there who have waited to get their cars tested for a long time and find that when it happens, it is only a short period until they have to get it done again. A car that passes the test is obviously roadworthy and should be roadworthy for at least 12 months thereafter. That is what the test is supposed to establish.

That is why we give people a piece of paper to put on their windscreen, to say their car is roadworthy for the next 12 months and has passed its test.