The NCT test, on its introduction roundly criticised for being arbitrarily harsh in its application, is set to get a whole lot tougher in the coming months.
A test, which in part, had lapsed into the kind of revenue generating formality we routinely have to suffer, is set to tax a whole new set of drivers, from the fast and furious to the rich and presumably now equally furious.
The gist of the rule changes proposed by Minister of State at the Department of Transport Ivor Callely appears to be that in the future tests will screen out both cars on the basis of noise abatement and road safety, specifically targeting exhaust systems and tinted windscreens.
While there appears to be no precisely defined target group in either of these changes, the affected groups of vehicles is obvious - younger drivers who have modified the exhaust systems of their cars to give the cars a racier note and the rich and affluent drivers who screen themselves behind the tinted windows of executive cars.
The effects on the latter set of drivers is hard to gauge. There is no indication from Minister Callely whether the rule changes would affect the tinting of windows of factory produced cars or whether cars modified by manufacturer subsidiaries, such as AMG or Brabus in the case of Mercedes would be deemed unsuitable.
Many top line road cars, as well as limousines and upmarket taxis, are fitted with tinted windows.
Still, while retro-fitting, if necessary, is likely to prove an inconvenience for the type of cash-rich driver who can afford to splash out €120,000 plus on a fully-loaded Range Rover, it will prove a greater burden, perhaps, for the young driver of the modified 10-year-old Honda Civic.
Tricking out cars is now big business in Ireland, aided by Hollywood nonsense such as the Fast and Furious series of movies.
Yet whatever your feelings towards 18-year-olds blasting past your front door in a car that looks like a cross between a blancmange and a Christmas tree, it is hard not to feel sympathy for drivers who have spent large amounts of cash on transforming their cars via many of the items the powers that be now deem unacceptable.
"If these changes go ahead they will be detrimental to the whole industry," says Justin Delaney, editor of Modified Motors magazine.
"There is a huge industry in modifying cars in Ireland and it's probably the only sector of the motor industry that hasn't had some kind of downturn in the last five years and this could have a big impact. There are 2,000 companies across the country working in car accessorising and modifying and it could hit them hard.
"I understand where he is coming from on this," he adds, "the idea being to get rid of the guy sitting in his back garden fitting a big bean can exhaust and some bubbly tinted strips to the windows of his car.
"But it needs some clarification as to what exactly will be defined as unacceptable."