Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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77. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will clarify whether the NCT operator has a sanctioned derogation in respect of the qualifications that testing staff must have in order to test vehicles in the European Union. [5599/23]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The minimum competence and training requirements for roadworthiness vehicle inspectors are set down in European law by means of Annex IV of Directive 2014/45/EU. The Directive establishes that the competent authorities of a Member State must ensure that vehicle inspectors have certified knowledge and meet certain documented experience and training criteria. No national derogation in respect of the required qualifications for vehicle inspectors is in place.

These requirements apply to the specific role of vehicle inspector and qualifications at any specific level on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) are not specified. This is a national competence.

The operation of the National Car Testing Service is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority. The required qualification for personnel is an operational matter and accordingly I have referred the Deputy's query to the Authority for direct reply. I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten days.