Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 637: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is satisfied with the operation of the national car test facilities here; his views that 20 minutes is an adequate amount of time to complete a comprehensive test; if his attention has been drawn to the ongoing human resources difficulties within this service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31204/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 477 of 2006) the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has overall responsibility for the operation, oversight, development, quality assurance and delivery of vehicle testing arrangements.

The testing function is currently carried out by Applus+ under a contractual arrangement with the RSA, who exercise a supervisory role to ensure that the service provided by Applus+ conforms to the conditions of that contract. The RSA continuously monitors Applus+ performance and has regular meetings with them to ensure compliance with contract requirements. To assist the RSA in carrying out this role, the Authority has appointed external contractors to monitor performance by Applus+, and to report regularly to the RSA.

I understand from the RSA that Applus+ has confirmed to them that booking slots have not been reduced to 20 minutes. The shortest slots are in large volume centres and have an average duration of 28 minutes. Activity at some NCT test centres declined during the current quarter due to a drop in demand allied to an increase in the number of owners failing to keep appointments ("no shows").

This situation arises every year and, as in previous years, Applus+ has increased the average number of appointments at 7 centres to minimise its impact. In these centres the time allocated per slot, for a test with an average duration of 20 minutes, has been reduced from 35 minutes to 32.5 minutes. Time slots at other centres are unaffected and those in the affected centres will revert to 35 minutes in January when demand increases and the number of "no shows" decreases.

Internal human resources are a matter for Applus+ and the RSA in relation to the performance of the NCT contract. However, I understand that a number of human resource matters are due to be heard by the Labour Relations Commission.