Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 4, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following:“4. The Minister shall, by 15 January 2015, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas setting out his proposals to address the backlog in NCT testing to ensure that people are not unfairly penalised with penalty points because they could not get an appointment for an NCT test within a reasonable timeframe.”

This amendment is intended to deal with the delay in NCT testing. In some test centres, people are currently waiting up to four months for an appointment. This is bad enough if they want to get their cars tested, but with the new regulations that have come into play they are also liable for penalty points. If they do not know there is a four-month delay they may book the test two months in advance, thinking they are well in time for an appointment. It is incredibly unfair that somebody in that situation would be hit with penalty points. When this was questioned last week, it emerged that it does not even matter that people can show a garda evidence that they have booked a test once they have missed the deadline.
This amendment provides for the Minister to lay a report before both Houses by the middle of January indicating how he intends to deal with that unfair situation and ensure the centres are adequately staffed. The new penalty points offence should not have come into place at all until that situation was addressed. It is fair enough that cars need to be roadworthy but it is unfair to bring the points in when there are huge delays for testing.

Everybody is entitled to get their car tested within three or four weeks of applying for a test. One should not have to wait months for a test. My amendment seeks a review of the situation and for the Minister to report to the Houses on how he intends to address the matter so that people are not unfairly penalised. People want to obey the law but for reasons outside of their control such as the staffing in centres they are unable to do so.