Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 56: To ask the Minister for Transport and the Marine his views on the recommendation by a jury at a recent inquest (details supplied) that all foreign vehicles be subjected to the same testing procedures as Irish vehicles; the steps his Department has taken to inform itself and the relevant enforcement authorities of the State of the various equivalents in other EU States of Ireland's national car test certificate. [17913/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 477 of 2006) responsibility for vehicle standards, including matters relating to vehicle testing, passed to the Road Safety Authority.

The framework at European level in relation to the compulsory periodic roadworthiness testing of motor vehicles and trailers is set down in EU Directive 96/96/EC. The Directive specifies the categories of vehicles liable to testing, the minimum frequency of testing of vehicles, the items that have to be tested and the arrangements for testing. In accordance with the Directive, each Member State of the European Union is required to have arrangements in place for the compulsory periodic roadworthiness testing of vehicles registered by it.

In line with the Directive's requirements, the testing of vehicles in this country is confined solely to Irish-registered vehicles. The Directive does not contain provisions to enable a Member State, irrespective of the circumstances involved, to require a vehicle registered in another Member State to be made subject to a roadworthiness test in its territory for the purposes of the Directive. To do so would be contrary to internal market rules for road transport in facilitating the free circulation of vehicles within the EU.

Notwithstanding the preclusion in the Directive on a Member State from compulsory testing of vehicles registered in another Member State, an extensive range of requirements must be satisfied in order to use a vehicle in a public place in Ireland regardless of its country of registration. In that regard, all vehicles must be in a satisfactory roadworthiness condition and comply with the requirements of vehicle standards regulations. The use of a vehicle in contravention of these regulations, regardless of its country of registration, would constitute an offence and leave a person open to prosecution under road traffic law. Enforcement of road traffic regulations is a matter for the Garda Síochána.