Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up on two points in my supplementary statement. The Minister of State said "The RSA has assured my Department that the high testing standard we expect from the National Car Testing Service, NCTS, will not be compromised in any way as it works to increase testing capacity." To ask the straight question, how has that been assessed? The RSA provided the assurance. I await a response from it and I expect it will give me the same assurance but, for me, that raises a further question; how has it been assessed that the standards will be maintained? We do not yet know what the pilot use of inspection support personnel in those five Dublin test centres will look like, if it proceeds. I understand people who have a junior certificate and an interest in cars or vehicles are being invited to apply. The Department has been assured but how has the RSA or Applus+ assessed this?

I have another question, which is related to the first. Is this legitimate? Is this change in practice lawful? The test is to be broken down into different stages and inspection support personnel are to be given responsibility for one of these parts, although a tester must ultimately sign off on the test. In the regulations, it is very clear what a tester is and what his or her responsibilities are. Is this new testing process lawful? Does it comply with SI 415 of 2017, the Road Traffic (National Car Test) Regulations 2017?

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