Cork councillors call for two-year NCT cert for all cars due to backlog

MEMBERS of Cork County Council have agreed to write to the Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan to instruct Applus to apply a two-year National Car Testing (NCT) certificate for vehicles that pass the test from the commencement date of the certificate regardless of the year of the vehicle.

The motion was brought before Monday’s council meeting by Independent councillor John Healy and it received unanimous support from his fellow councillors.

Cllr Healy said his proposal will help ‘streamline’ the test operation. 

“According to Applus who operates the NCT, there are now 375,000 vehicles overdue for a test. Cars being used without a valid NCT are breaking the law. Presently a car of ten years or more has to be tested annually. 

"My proposal is that cars that pass the NCT regardless of the age of the car be given a two-year certificate. This would help streamline the test operation and it would also eliminate the problem of cars with an out-of-date certificate being driven publicly,” he said.

“This can be done without compromising road safety,” said Cllr Healy. “There is no evidence that the proposal of giving all cars a two-year certificate instead of one year would result in more accidents.”

Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty seconded the motion. “This is a major crisis for the whole vehicle industry. It is causing major problems for all motorists, whether private or commercial. I feel to address the backlog these centres should be operating 24/7.”

Independent councillor Frank Roche made another recommendation for people with second cars. 

“Where you have a second car in the family for collecting children or for a run-around locally it is very hard for those people to NCT their car every year. 

"It is another attack on the rural community. I think the NCT should be put up on a mileage basis rather than a yearly basis.”

Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath agreed with the motion but he also expressed some concerns: “It is not acceptable that those levels of delays are in place. The fact is that when you get the NCT cert it isn’t at the date of when it fell due even though there has been a delay in it and you will have to come back in less than 12 months’ time. This needs to be looked at.

“I would be concerned about a 20-year-old car getting a two-year NCT cert from a road safety point of view. There is scope to review the time limit and increase the operational hours of the NCT centre,” he added.