385. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Transport whether any requirement to be fitted with an electronic immobiliser applies to used vehicles imported into the State at the point of registration or roadworthiness testing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61497/26]

Under the relevant type-approval legislation in Ireland, before a vehicle can be registered it must be type-approved. Type approval describes the process applied by national authorities to certify that a model of a vehicle meets all EU safety, environmental and conformity of production requirements before authorising it to be placed on the EU market. If all the relevant requirements are met, a national type-approval authority grants an EU vehicle type approval to the manufacturer which authorises the sale of the vehicle type in the EU. The system is based on the mutual recognition of approvals granted by Member States (that is to say, once a vehicle is certified once, it is accepted everywhere in the EU). Every vehicle produced is accompanied by a certificate of conformity, in which the manufacturer certifies that the vehicle corresponds to the approved type. On the basis of this document, the vehicle can be registered anywhere in Europe.

Different manufacturers will naturally have many variations in the design of the vehicles that they produce and certain vehicles which may not have immobilisers or alarms fitted as part of their design can be type-approved without these components. Ireland cannot refuse to register a vehicle which has been type-approved without being in breach of our obligations to uphold the free movement of goods in the EU.

Cars which are registered in Ireland are subject to roadworthiness testing at periodic intervals under EU Directive 2014/45/EU. In Ireland, this is carried out by means of the National Car Test (NCT) regime, which is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority. The test items which are examined as part of the NCT are determined by European law. Certain components are examined only if they are fitted and required as part of the vehicle's type approval, such as on-board diagnostic testing, speed limitation devices, emergency braking systems, for example. Not all cars will have such components fitted as part of their design, particularly older cars and accordingly the absence of this system is not a fail item at NCT. This does not preclude any vehicle owner from having an immobiliser fitted after purchase.