Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It has been reported that at present, more than 200,000 cars in Ireland do not have a valid national car test, NCT, disc. While nobody would suggest for a minute that anyone should be driving a car that is not fit for purpose on the roads, one problem that has arisen on foot of the recession is many people leave until the last minute any expenditure they must undergo. This is fully understandable, particularly coming up to Christmas but unfortunately not many people are aware that a change in the law is coming into effect from 8 December whereby a person who is stopped without a valid NCT disc will be subject to an automatic on-the-spot fine, as well as an automatic imposition of three penalty points. This is pretty severe, considering there will be significant numbers of checkpoints in the approach to Christmas and, consequently, many people will be caught at these checkpoints for not having a valid NCT disc. While the change in the law also provides that one can carry out one's NCT up to 90 days before it is due, that is, when the previous disc expires, many of the 47 testing centres nationwide have waiting lists for an NCT of more than three months. In other words, were people to wake up in the morning, they still would not have the amount of time needed to get an NCT done before this law is introduced. Consequently, I ask the Leader to ask the Minister with responsibility to step up the information campaign in the first instance because as I stated, many people do not realise this is coming down the road. In addition, I do not believe a start date of 8 December is legitimate or realistic given that the NCT centres nationwide are not in a position to carry out the tests people are legally obliged to undergo.