Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's approach to dealing with the matter on a regional basis and I welcome his announcement of additional testing staff. I recognise that the Minister is not in a position to encourage the Garda to exercise discretion, but I hope that until such time as the backlog has been addressed, the penalty by way of fixed notice will not be enforced. I hope common sense will prevail, particularly in cases in which a test has already been scheduled. Perhaps some direction could be given to the Garda or a statutory instrument might be required to ensure that pending the alleviation of the backlog, having a test scheduled would ensure the certificate is valid until such time as a test has taken place and at such time the car would either pass or fail. I would prefer if the Minister would use the available time to address the other issue I raised.

See this speech in context