Vol. 555 No. 1
141 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Transport if he has considered extending the NCT testing service to local garages throughout the country in a manner similar to that which prevails in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17739/02]
The National Car Testing Service has been engaged on a sole contractor basis to provide and operate an integrated national network of dedicated test centres. This method of procuring the new service was decided by the Government in 1996 following consideration of a range of options, including the operation of the service through local garages, as in the UK. Since the present contract excludes, for its duration, the deployment of other procurement arrangements for roadworthiness testing of cars, there is no proposal to develop such arrangements at present.
