Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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620. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding modified cars; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9238/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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While I have no proposals to make the use of modified cars illegal, any modification undertaken must comply with existing Road Traffic legislation.

It is the responsibility of the owner / driver of a vehicle to ensure that their vehicle is roadworthy and does not present a danger to any road users.

The RSA is working to ensure that minimum safety standards apply to any modifications carried out on a vehicle and in this regard two initiatives have already emerged.

The NCT Regulations introduced last July require that, where safety critical modifications have been made to a vehicle since its last NCT, the owner must present a Modifications Report in a particular format completed by the manufacturer or a suitably qualified individual.

The RSA is also engaging with key stakeholders in order to implement a scheme for post registration modifications of M1 vehicles (passenger cars) to N1 (goods) vehicles. It is envisaged that the scheme will require that each modified vehicle must be checked by an NSAI approved test centre. It is proposed that this will initially be a pilot scheme and, if successful, may be extended to cover other categories of vehicle conversions.