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Lowering qualification standards for staff among measures to fix NCT system

Dáil hears of backlogs of up to six months due to system being dogged by staffing shortages

Motorists are waiting an average of about 25 days for NCT tests but on Thursday, the Dáil heard of backlogs of up to six months as political pressure intensifies to fix a system plagued by staffing shortages.

Applus, the contractor which runs the service, has been unable to source enough mechanics to cut waiting lists linked to the effects of Covid-19.

At the Department of Transport, Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton has ramped up pressure on the Road Safety Authority (RSA), the agency responsible for overseeing the service.

Numerous measures have been set in train – hiring non-EU mechanics, lowering qualification standards, extending overtime – but the RSA has said the situation is unlikely to improve by the end of the year.

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At the beginning of November, average waiting times across 49 test centres ranged from 16.63 days in Tuam, Co Galway to 43.58 at the Northpoint 2 centre in Dublin.

However, in a Dáil exchange on Thursday, Sinn Fein TD Darren O’Rourke suggested the problem was often far more serious – appointments were unavailable until next May in Navan and Kells; and June in Drogheda and Northpoint centres in Dublin, he said.

The RSA first flagged problems to the Department in January. By September, the backlog had reached about 310,000 vehicles. An internal RSA briefing document showed this had risen to 360,658 by the end of the month. The current 24-day average waiting time is exactly double that of pre-pandemic levels.

A spokeswoman for Applus, the contractor running the NCT centres, said “every effort” was being made to manage demand.

“The recruitment of vehicle inspectors is an ongoing process,” she said, pointing to an EU shortage in mechanics. “Despite our best efforts we are still falling short.”

Jimi Donohoe, a Unite union official who runs the Mechanics Association of Ireland, an informal Facebook based group with about 4,700 members, said much of the recruitment problem is related to pay levels in the sector generally considered inferior to other trades. Whatever the cause, efforts to recruit enough people, including non-mechanics, to help cut the backlog are causing tensions.

Some existing test centre staff are understood to be concerned at a temporary move to recruit mechanics trained at QQI Level 5, as opposed to Level 6. The latter standard had been mandated in Irish centres since 2020 but has recently changed.

“The RSA has assured the department that the high testing standard expected from the NCTS will not be compromised in any way as they work to increase testing capacity,” a spokesman said.

The recruitment of vehicle inspectors is an ongoing process. Despite our best efforts we are still falling short

The Authority has also approved a pilot programme for additional inspection personnel to assist with automated elements of the test.

A spokesman said it has “accepted in principle” the possible use of trained staff who are not qualified mechanics to carry out agreed elements of the NCT. Negotiations on this approach are ongoing.

Other measures designed to arrest the growing backlog include the recent relocation of 22 inspectors from Applus’s Spanish operation and the introduction of a priority waiting list.

In addition, the Department of Justice has amended visa rules to allow for the recruitment of up to 100 non-EU staff.

Separate information provided to People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who has raised concerns about waiting times, showed that just 10 centres had fewer than the “optimum” number of mechanics employed as of mid-October. Twice that number of centres have above optimum staffing levels.

However, RSA chief operations officer Brendan Walsh said “optimum” refers to staff required in a “typical year” whereas the service is currently recruiting additional inspectors to address the backlog.

Mr Boyd Barrett said the situation was reflective of a wider problem. “We don’t have adequate numbers of qualified staff working in [various service] areas to deal with demand,” he said.

“Often, that relates to the conditions and pay that makes entering these jobs unattractive. It is a problem in the NCT, and it is a problem right across the public sector.”

Focus has begun to shift to potential sanctions being levelled against the contractor. An RSA spokesman declined to comment on the grounds of commercial sensitivity.

However, addressing this point in the Dáil, Ms Naughton said “contract mechanisms” have applied where service levels are not met, but these were currently under dispute.

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard is a reporter with The Irish Times