Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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94. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is aware of the difficulties faced by a company (details supplied) in County Carlow, as a result of the delay in approving products from the National Standards Authority of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18889/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The responsibility for the EU Directive 2007/46/EC governing motor vehicles type approvals lies with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, and its Agency, the Road Safety Authority. The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is the Irish approval authority for this and related Directives. The current processing times reflects the technical nature of the approvals process, the requirement on industry to build in an adequate provision for the automotive approvals timescale and the increased registration of new vehicles at the start of the year and at the mid-year registration cycle also.

These conditions coupled with resourcing constraints have exacerbated this situation with current approvals times of approximately 4 weeks. The optimum approval time target is 2 weeks.

NSAI recognises that the current lead times are the cause of concerns for the industry and has implemented actions to continue to reduce the processing time. NSAI went to tender for the provision of technical assessors, who commenced in January 2015. However, it is not possible to rapidly increase processing capacity as the sourcing and induction of engineers takes a period of approximately 6 months before they become competent in the approvals process. While new personnel have been engaged through these outsourcing arrangements this has yet to fully impact on the processing timelines.

In respect of Keltruck, there are currently 6 applications for certification with NSAI from this company, ranging from 1 week to 5 weeks. The NSAI are in constant contact with the company in order to prioritise their applications.