TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has supported an idea to reform the Road Safety Authority (RSA) so that it loses responsibility of operating the National Car Tests (NCTs).
The compulsory tests are done once a year for most vehicles and is an income stream for the RSA, which is also in charge of road safety awareness schemes and conducting driving tests.
However, the outcome of an ongoing review of the authority could mean that the RSA loses the responsibility of conducting NCTs so that the agency has more time to dedicate towards road safety campaigns.
As of Monday, 115 people have died on Irish roads so far this year, an increase of 12 on 2023 figures. The Taoiseach said that as more and more people die on Irish roads, the authority should have a “clearer sharper focus” on driver safety.
Harris said: “We’re in a very bad place when it comes to road fatalities in our country this year. And there are a number of things that need to happen, and including things that government need to do.”
“There are things that need to happen today, that can happen that don’t require the Government to do anything. And that’s every single person taking personal responsibility when we get behind the wheel of a car,” he added.
Road Safety minister James Lawless on Sunday said the ongoing review of the RSA was “long overdue” and suggested that the RSA needed to go “back to basics” when it comes to how it operates.
Harris today acknowledged that the Government needed to “do more” when it comes to road safety and noted that he believes the RSA’s role has “ballooned” in recent years, with NCTs, driving tests and other operations.
Government will need to wait for the outcome of the review before it can make a decision on the matter, and the recommendations are expected in the Autumn session. But Harris was quick to support a stripped back RSA.
“We do need an agency dedicated wholly and exclusively to road safety and advocacy. Things around NCTs and the likes could perhaps be done somewhere else – but that’s my view. Government to make a decision when we get the review,” he told reporters today.
A recommendation could see the NCT service fully privatised. Currently, Spanish-owned firm Applus have carried out the operations of the tests under a controversial 10-year contract awarded to them by the RSA in 2020.
Last year, according to reports, Applus earned well over €1.75 million a week in revenue and turned a profit – despite increasing waiting times for tests. The RSA has said waiting times have stayed within an agreed time frame since December last year.
Meanwhile, according to the most recent report which reviews the status of the NCT operations published by the RSA, the authority earned a loss of €785,000 in 2022. The loss was driven primarily by high operating costs.
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