Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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115. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will review the regulations covering the vehicle roadworthiness certification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7526/14]

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 has the overall responsibility for the operation, oversight, development, quality assurance and delivery of vehicle testing arrangements.

There is no suggestion that the current regulations governing the National Car Test are not appropriate to the task of ensuring the roadworthiness of vehicles on the road, and therefore I have no plans to make any amendments to the existing regulations.

With regard to commercial vehicle roadworthiness testing, the Road Safety Authority took over responsibility for this function under the Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012 and permanent commercial vehicle roadworthiness testing commenced under the Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness (Vehicle Testing) (No. 2) Regulations – S.I. 347 of 2013 in October 2013.

I have no proposals to update legislation in this area given how recently the regulations came into force. Doing so would create unnecessary confusion and uncertainty. However, as with all new regulatory developments a bedding-in period is necessary, after which the current system may be reviewed in order to identify any difficulties that might have emerged.

Finally, under action 59 of the 2013-2020 Road Safety Strategy, the RSA propose to complete a review of roadworthiness testing arrangements for vintage vehicles by Quarter 1 of 2015.