125. Deputy Ann Graves asked the Minister for Transport to investigate a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50160/26]

As the Deputy will be aware, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Car Testing Service (NCTS) under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006. In this capacity, the RSA has contracted a third-party service provider to run the NCTS on its behalf, with the contract managed and overseen by the RSA's customer operations directorate.

As Minister, neither I nor my officials have the powers to intervene in individual cases. I have therefore referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for further follow up and direct reply and I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten days.

Pending this direct response, I am advised that the RSA has raised these matters on behalf of the customer with the NCTS provider for follow up and that a number of responses have been issued to the vehicle owner following investigations.

The RSA have further advised that should the vehicle owner wish to appeal the outcome of the investigations, they may pursue the matter through the Independent Appeals Board (IAB), which is provided by the Automobile Association (AA) on behalf of the RSA.

The AA is fully independent in the exercise of the appeals function, and its findings are binding on the RSA and NCTS provider.