WAIT FOR NCT IN CO. MONAGHAN NEARS EIGHT MONTHS

“If you applied for an NCT in Co Monaghan today, it will be September 7 before your appointment comes through,” Fianna Fáil local public representative Seamus Coyle told his colleagues on the Ballybay-Clones Municipal District on Monday. Councillor Coyle moved a motion demanding of Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD and the Government to immediate address the waiting lists for NCTs or National Car Tests, the compulsory vehicle inspection programme which all motor vehicles in Ireland are required to undergo.

He stated that his own NCT was due in mid-February – he had sought an appointment well before Christmas and the first date available to him had been July 28, although he managed to be put on a priority list and got an earlier appointment. Councillor Coyle said he had ascertained that the Road Safety Authority had awarded the contract for the National Car Testing Service to the Swiss company Applus, and this was signed in 2019 for a period of ten years. The contract was worth €600 million.

He added that for law-abiding citizens it was a great imposition to be driving without an NCT certificate because they were liable for prosecution and very severe penalties were in place. At the..