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

The timing is what I find so baffling. During this one month of the political calendar in a four- or five-year period, there is a lot of uncertainty because there is a Cabinet coming to the end of its mandate and there is a Dáil being elected with a new mandate. A Dáil was dissolved and the only people here at that time would have been the Seanad until its mandate ended. I feel that it is a long contract and there was a lack of scrutiny. I am not trying to be accusatory at all but we are now living with the consequences. It is profoundly frustrating this has gone on for so long and we must go back to the consequences and the difficulties it causes a garda at a checkpoint where he or she stops a member of the public with a car without a valid NCT. There could be someone messing around with the NCT, cancelling appointments and trying to abuse the system, which we know is an issue. What does the garda do if they stop any one of the 500,000 motorists where the vehicle is not carrying a valid NCT? Are they to say the driver is technically breaking the law and can get three penalty points on their licence or is the garda supposed to turn a blind eye? This has consequences beyond road safety because it has caused difficulties for the gardaí. With road safety, unfortunately, we know that road fatalities are up which is deeply regrettable. I have no doubt the pandemic had an impact on that and there are other factors such as narcotics and drink driving but it goes to show how the failure of Applus+ and the RSA as the agency with responsibility for the area has led to an unfortunate outcome.