Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to congratulate and address the Cathaoirleach, whom we called the Leader in a previous Seanad. I wish him the best. This is my first chance to do so since his elevation to high office. I also congratulate Senator Chambers on her appointment as Leader and thank Senators Mark Daly and Regina Doherty who previously held leadership positions for their work.

The following point may have been discussed already and, if so, I apologise for raising it again. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications on which the Cathaoirleach recently worked. I ask for a discussion on where we are with the national car test, NCT, system. I will not say the NCT is beyond repair but it is out of control. For example, the earliest appointment available in Deansgrange on the NCT system is on 4 September.It is not exclusive to Deansgrange. It is the same all over the country. I have looked at other places. Whether it is Carrigaline, Clifden or various other parts of the country it is months and months away. I can go in at any hour of the day and look for slots and I might find one because somebody has cancelled one in April or one in May, but that is it. There are not big blocks being released at any time. We need to bring in the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to ask him what is going on. We are bringing him into the transport committee but I believe there are many more Senators than those who are members of that committee who have issues relating to the NCT. It is everyone's responsibility to be in possession of a car that is roadworthy, but it is a condition of driving that one has a valid NCT. All over the country, we have people driving who are kind of okay because while gardaí will not turn a blind eye, as long as the car looks roadworthy, they will let them off, but the reality is the system is not fit for purpose, there are enormous backlogs and we must deal with it.