Mr. Niall Cody:

I was conscious that the Deputy had asked a parliamentary question about VRT in the context of Cork. Part of the challenge, clearly, is Covid. We are talking purely about second-hand car imports, mostly from the UK, which have to be registered for VRT through the national car test, NCT, operation, and Covid restrictions have obviously impacted on that. The NCT also provides a pre-inspection system whereby it calls out to the garage and has increased the level of call-out available. There is a problem in Cork, Tralee and Limerick and the NCT is looking at dealing with that. We keep it under review. In the normal course, this is not a problem but Covid has limited the opportunity for Applus Car Testing Service, the company that runs the NCT, to provide those facilities.

I understand that the Deputy recently asked a parliamentary question about the fair deal scheme as well. If I recall, we said we would, of course, have regard to the circumstances. I know that the fair deal scheme and the collection has been the subject of a special report. We operate as agents for the HSE. In the first instance, if the HSE tells us not to, we do not collect. As was a matter for the report, we take a very pragmatic approach to the application of interest, having regard to the exceptional circumstances that the fair deal is-----