Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue relating to NCT centres. Obviously, Covid has had an impact over a long period of time with regard to the NCT certificate, how long it is valid for and extensions. Considering that in some parts of the country, it will be months before a person will get a date for an NCT, how does that affect the validity of a person's certificate is if he or she has an accident? It is an issue because in certain parts of Dublin city, a person will not get a test before the autumn. If his or her NCT is up, what is the legal standing of the person driving the car if he or she has an accident? From what I understand, if someone is pulled over by An Garda Síochána and does not have a valid certificate, he or she could get penalty points. Will the Deputy Leader contact the relevant Minister or the Road Safety Authority, RSA, to provide some clarity on this because it is an issue of concern? It is always the case there is never a problem with insurance until you have an accident and go looking to claim. That is when issues can arise so there could be people who are affected in that regard.

I also request a debate on our capital plan and capital projects. I raised a Commencement Matter issue regarding a very important project for Galway city and county, namely, the new emergency department at University Hospital Galway. Since I spoke on the matter in this House in January, it has gone backwards. Three months on, it is still going backwards. There is no certainty with regard to the delivery of this very important project, not taking into account any of the inflationary pressures regarding the price of the project. This concerns getting consent to lodge a planning application for a project that in 2015 was deemed not to be fit for purpose by the then Taoiseach Enda Kenny when questioned by the current Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, in the Dáil. This project is vital for the region. Saolta University Health Care Group promised that a planning application would be lodged before Christmas 2018 and here we are in 2022, albeit with a changed specification for the project, and we have seen no progress. This is one of a number of projects. For any large project, from when we start talking about it to when the tape is cut on it, we could be talking about seven, eight or ten years. People tend not to believe anymore what is being said about these projects until such time as the diggers actually go in to start construction, and it is a concern of mine regarding the processes in place for our capital projects.

I ask for a debate on capital infrastructure in the country. We could have one specifically on health projects because there are so many of them and they are so vital, but the debate could include all projects.