NCT delays and Castletown House access
With time limited, Deputy O'Connor raises long NCT and driving test delays, and Deputy Durkan raises the attempted denial of access to Castletown House. A final exchange also covers distressed Temple Street parents outside the current review, and the Minister says details will be passed on, access to Castletown House will be protected, and RSA backlog concerns are being addressed.
We are out of time but I will take 30-second questions from the three remaining Deputies, starting with Deputy O'Connor.
Comment on this
I want to raise what happened yesterday at the Committee on Transport and Communications with the ongoing delays with National Car Test, NCT, testing. We heard justification yesterday that there are supposed to be 18 days of a wait for NCTs across the country, which is factually incorrect. People are waiting for four, five and six months in different parts of the country to get an NCT. Also, in the area pertaining to the RSA, our driving testing waiting lists have gone out of all order. It is clear that the RSA and Applus+ are in complete disarray, and they are locked into a ten-year contract that was signed in 2020. This must urgently be reviewed by the Government.
Comment on this
Today I have to defer from my usual question, but I will be back to it again soon, in favour of the issue that arose in my constituency in the last week whereby at the State-owned Castletown House, access was intended to be denied by an adjoining new landowner, resulting in the prevention of access to the State-owned house and 200 acres or thereabouts. It was deemed that the State could not enter, maintain, allow the public, invite the public or continue to spend the moneys that have been spent heretofore, on an annual basis, on the development of the estate, which is a preserved and heritage house. I call on all and sundry to concentrate all efforts possible, including an interim injunction, if necessary, to ensure that is successful. I recognise that discussions have been taking place for about ten days. Hopefully, they will be successful.
Comment on this
I note the Minister's comments earlier on CHI at Temple Street and his sympathies to the parents of the children. I have a number of parents who believe they are outside of the scope of the current investigation but who are nonetheless affected because their children are within the orthopaedic paediatric setting. Their children are affected in other parts of the body, not by spina bifida, although one has a child with spina bifida and has not been contacted. They are in deep distress; they are contacting the helpline and getting no answers. I ask that something be put in place immediately to make contact, broaden the scope and include those who are outside the spina bifida category but within the surgeon's capacity.
Comment on this
I thank Deputy Verona Murphy. In that instance, if we can help in any way to get those details directly to the Minister for Health, I will do so-----
Comment on this
-----and let him assess it. So if the Deputy can get those details through I will get that on to the Minister for Health for her.
Deputy Durkan's point is well made and we will ensure that anything we can do, at Government and interdepartmental level, to ensure access to Castletown House, we will do.
Deputy O'Connor has expressed frustration at continuing delays for NCTs, which we see. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, is committed to supporting all appropriate RSA requests for assistance in tackling the backlog but it is frustrating for customers and distressing in some instances too. The Deputy can be assured that from this afternoon I will relay his frustration and his comments from the committee yesterday and again today, directly to the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers.