Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the steps that he is taking to reduce the long waiting times for NCT appointments; if the private company operating the NCT service has faced any sanction under its contract due to these long delays; if the staff which it has temporarily transferred from Spain are qualified to the same standard as their Irish counterparts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55353/22]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister of State to set out the steps she is taking to reduce the long waiting times for national car test, NCT, appointments. Has the private company operating the NCT service faced any sanction under its contract due to these long delays? Are the staff who have been temporarily transferred from Spain qualified to the same standard as their Irish counterparts?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. The statutory responsibility for roadworthiness testing lies with the Road Safety Authority, RSA. However, I am very much aware of vehicle owners' concerns over delays this year in securing test appointments. I have emphasised to the RSA the importance of reducing the test backlog and my officials are meeting weekly with the RSA to monitor progress in reducing delays. My Department will continue to keep the situation under close review while supporting any appropriate requests from the RSA for assistance.

Work is under way to increase test centre capacity and restore the average appointment waiting time to an acceptable level. To date, a priority waiting list has been established for motorists to avail of cancellations. The contractor is providing 22 vehicle inspectors from its Spanish operation and the RSA has approved a pilot for additional inspection personnel in automated elements of the test. These measures are in addition to the 53 new staff employed by the National Car Testing Service, NCTS, earlier this year and a significant increase in staff overtime that allows eight tests per tester per day instead of seven. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy English, with my Department's assistance, is allowing recruitment of up to 100 non-EU testers. Some 44 additional testers are expected before the end of the year for test centres with the most significant delays.

The NCT service contract is held by the RSA. As Minister of State, I do not have a role in its administration. Contractual sanctions are a matter for the RSA and penalty clauses apply where the contractor breaches key indicators. The RSA has confirmed that contract mechanisms have applied where service levels have not been met. The contractor is disputing these, however, and further discussions are planned in the coming weeks.

With regard to qualifications, I can confirm that the temporary vehicle inspectors from Spain are qualified to Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, level 5, which is the standard in many EU member states and the UK. Until 2020, the QQI level 5 certification was considered the appropriate minimum requirement for vehicle inspectors in the State. This was changed in accordance with apprenticeship changes in Ireland as well as to align with the commercial standard.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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There are two elements of this for me, the first of which is the inordinate delays. In the first instance, I am not entirely convinced. There is a job of work to notify people about the priority waiting list and the mechanism they should use. I try to find people an appointment in my area, but they will wait until 3 May next year in Kells, 18 May in Navan and 7 June in Drogheda. At Northpoint 1 and 2, they will wait until 7 June or 31 May. Therefore, six-month waits are not unheard of.

This is my first question by way of follow-up. What is the commitment from the contractor to reduce those waiting times? If there is an average waiting time of 24.5 days and the target is 12 days, when will the contractor deliver on that? Will it do it through additional staffing, additional hours or additional tests? How will it do it, and when will it happen?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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All of those approaches will be used by the contractor to reduce the waiting times. This will include overtime and recruitment in Ireland and abroad. As I outlined earlier, we are working with the Minister of State, Deputy English, to allow the recruitment of up to 100 non-EU testers. Some 44 additional testers are expected before the end of this year.

To directly answer the Deputy's question regarding motorists, I strongly urge vehicle owners to allow plenty of time to book their tests. The regulations allow a car to be tested up to 90 days before the due date without affecting the expiry date of the certificate issued. Appointment slots are released continuously across all test centres with many also becoming available through cancellations or rescheduling of appointments. Therefore, when motorists are unable to secure an NCT test date before their certificate is due to expire, they should contact the NCT customer service directly and ask to be added to the priority waiting list. The majority of those on the priority list will be provided with an appointment within 30 days.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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The next area I want to focus on is standards, which the Minister of State touched on in her initial reply. I would appreciate if she could expand on it here. I am hearing from unions - SIPTU, in particular, has been in contact with me - and workers that there is a real concern that in the rush to address the backlog, standards are being driven down and new recruits or internal transfers within the company are not qualified to the same standard. Traditionally, it has been the case that the inspectors would be qualified motor mechanics with additional experience and intensive training. The Minister of State pointed towards QQI level 5. That is not the standard in Ireland that it might be elsewhere. How exactly are standards being maintained? Does the Minister of State accept that these new recruits are not qualified to the same standard?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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With regard to the qualifications, I can confirm that the temporary vehicle inspectors from Spain are qualified to QQI level 5. That is the standard in many EU member states. As the Deputy alluded to, however, until 2020, QQI level 5 certification was considered the appropriate minimum requirement for vehicle inspectors in the State. This was changed in accordance with apprenticeship changes in Ireland as well as to align with the commercial standard.

Testers in Ireland are currently required to hold QQI level 6 qualifications, but the RSA has confirmed that local applicants with QQI level 5 will be considered for a temporary period and has indicated that on-the-job training will be provided to bring testers to QQI level 6 standard. The RSA has assured my Department that the highest testing standards that we expect from the NCTS will not be compromised in any way as they work to increase testing capacity and deal with the backlogs.