James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thanks very much. It is good to be back in action following the recess. I thank the representatives of RSA and Applus for being present today. We have had a fair amount of exchanges with them in recent months. However, while time has moved on, the issue has not subsided in the area that I represent. I know that there have been some limited improvements made in certain areas which were referenced in the opening statements but I want to run through a couple of facts. I understand the lead-in times have dropped to a number of weeks from where they were but let us take the example of Youghal town. I live just outside Youghal in east Cork. If I was booking an NCT today, the earliest appointment I would get is on 16 January 2024. We are in the middle of September now and 16 January is the earliest appointment available on the NCT booking system. That appointment is in Charleville, which is about an hour and a half from Youghal. The next available appointment is on 8 February and that is in Cahir in County Tipperary, which is about an hour and 20 minutes from Youghal in east Cork. Little Island is up the road, near Carrigtwohill, Midleton and Cobh and also serves the city area. The earliest appointment in Little Island is on 10 February. After that, Macroom comes in on 8 March, Blarney on 20 March, Waterford on 21 March and finally, the bonus ball for Youghal, County Cork, the town I referred to at the beginning, the earliest date available is 26 March. For people living in east Cork, north Cork or Cork city, if not the entirety of the county, the earliest date available is 16 January, which is appalling. Deputies Healy-Rae are famous for advocating for Kerry but this goes beyond Kerry. The problem is over the border in County Cork as well. It affects Deputy Lowry's constituency in Tipperary and Deputy Cathal Crowe's constituency in County Clare. Everywhere one goes across rural Ireland, the service that is provided by Applus is in disarray. There are no facts to prove that is not the case in the area I represent. There is nothing the witnesses can say today that proves that the service has improved because it has not.

What I am hearing within the test centres is deep frustration about the staff and how they are being treated. It is just not acceptable. There are issues with pay arrangements, the treatment of staff, absenteeism and the recruitment campaign that Applus ran which involved going to Spain and the Philippines rather than trying to look after the staff already in the organisation. Maybe that is a port of call for the Department of Transport and Communications and the RSA. They need to sit down with the operator. I have said quite a bit there and am interested in the response from the RSA. I would also welcome a reply from Mr. Synnott but would like to hear from Mr. Walsh first.