James Bannon (Fine Gael)

The system has become overly bureaucratic and does not appear to be answerable to anyone, with decisions differing from station to station and causing great inconvenience to the public. Hardly a day goes by when SGS is not is the Labour Court due to breakdowns in employer-employee relations in various centres throughout the country. The Minister referred to Abbeyfeale and Limerick but similar situations have arisen in Tipperary, Dublin and Longford. This is because some of the Irish people who operate the systems are unhappy with what they have to go through at the centres. The Department has evidence of this because genuine, decent, honest people wrote to the Department informing it that they felt hard done by.

The inspection list for the NCT now contains minor items which could lead to test failure, including a scrape in the paint, in regard to which I have evidence. How can anyone contend that such a situation could be labelled a road safety issue?