Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for their contributions. I will respond to the points in the order in which they were raised. A common theme in the contributions was delays in obtaining appointments at NCT centres to have appropriate checks carried out. Some Senators alleged these delays are ongoing. The NCT service has the capacity to carry out 150,000 more tests than it was able to carry out last year. Further changes will soon be made to the online booking system and NCT website to deliver more improvements to customers and ensure they can access the NCT service efficiently and in good time.

Senator O'Sullivan raised a number of issues, including recent concerns about fraud and the need to ensure public confidence in the NCT system. I assure the Senator that a robust anti-fraud management plan is in place and a number of measures have been introduced to ensure fraudulent activity is eliminated or minimised. For example, a confidential whistleblower hotline has been established for the NCT service and those with concerns about the operation of the service may also use a confidential e-mail service.In addition, there are a number of preventive measures and systems in place to detect fraud and to make sure the system is being run in the manner required. Both the Senator and a number of other Senators, including Senator O'Neill, spoke about accuracy and how the services are run. I assure the House that the RSA, alongside a variety of different bodies, has ongoing measures in place to check the assessment of test accuracy and to test the performance of individual vehicle testers. All test centres are visited frequently and over 2,000 vehicle tests are observed each year as part of an unannounced inspection regime. The reason those services are put in place is to deal with the risks Senator O'Sullivan outlined. Senator O'Neill touched on some of those points. He also made a point regarding what could be done to incentivise people to come in earlier. Is that correct?