Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the NCT centres were closed from lunchtime on 29 April until 3 May 2005, although they are usually open all day Friday, Saturday and Monday; if any person who had 30 days for a reinspection will not be forced to have a total retest due to this unannounced closure; and if arrangements will be made for a reinspection in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 3. [15754/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The opening hours of NCT centres is a matter for the management of National Car Testing Service Limited having regard to the broad range of customer service parameters for the service set down in the car testing contract. Each test centre should open for a minimum of 20 hours each week between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, and, subject to local demand, have one early opening per week from 8 a.m. and one late evening closing to 8 p.m. and be open for at least four hours at weekends. A test centre's opening hours are published in notices on display in the test centre concerned.

My Department has been advised by the company that at the recent public holiday weekend, all NCT test centres closed at their normal closing time on Friday, 29 April 2005, which in the case of the Northpoint test centre was 12 noon, and were closed on Saturday, 30 April, Sunday, 1 May, and Monday, 2 May. Where a test centre is normally open over a weekend, the notice of opening hours on display in the test centre indicates that such a service is not available on a public holiday weekend.

A retest must be completed within 30 days of the initial test. It is the responsibility of the car owner to return to the test centre for the retest within 30 days of the initial test having regard to the opening times of the test centre concerned. I understand, however, that the company takes a lenient view of circumstances where the 30th day falls on the weekend of a public holiday and, insofar as is practicable to do so, the retest will be carried out on the next open day.

I am pleased to advise that the company will be contacting the person concerned shortly with a view to arranging the required retest in this case.