Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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73. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has considered extending the validity of NCT certification to two years instead of one year to relieve the pressures and backlog in the system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11735/23]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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81. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will look at reviewing changes in the NCT system (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11912/23]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 73 and 81 together.

Under European Directive 2014/45/EU on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers, Ireland, like all Member States, must comply with the minimum specified intervals for carrying out such inspections. This is given effect in Irish law by the Road Traffic (National Car Test) Regulations 2017 (SI 415/2017), as amended.

Regulation 3(2) of the 2017 Regulations provides that the initial test due date is determined by a vehicle's registration date and subsequent test due dates fall on anniversaries of the registration date. Accordingly, any certificate issued for that vehicle will be valid up to the test due date after the certificate is issued, not 12 months, or 24 months as relevant, from the date of testing.

Member States cannot unilaterally postpone test due dates to match the date of testing, and so extend the validity of certificates, without a derogation from the EU Commission. The only time a derogation has been granted to EU States was under , in direct response to the Covid crisis in 2020, when test centres were closed to prevent the spread of the virus. Under this derogation, a permanent change to the date of testing was applied to certain vehicles in 2020 following the suspension of testing under the Road Traffic (National Car Test) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. Certificates for vehicles which had the extension applied are also valid only to the next test due date.

Permitting the validity of NCT Certs to be extended without inspection would place the State in breach of our obligations under EU law and may affect road safety, should the vehicle in question be unsafe to drive.

I am advised that customers seeking test appointments may contact the NCTS directly, by calling 01-4135992, or may avail of the priority waiting list function via the NCT website, www.ncts.ie. In the majority of cases, vehicle owners on the priority waiting list are provided with an appointment within 30 days.