Learners are no longer be able to sit their driving test if their car does not have a valid NCT certificate.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has lifted a COVID exemption that let people sit their test without a valid cert following pressure from driving testers.

Anyone who has booked a test but does not have a valid NCT is urged to cancel their test with a full refund.

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Fórsa Assistant General Secretary Derek Kelleher RSA members had raised concerns about the safety of getting into cars that do not have valid NCT certs.

Health and safety

He said the union’s priority is the health and safety of its members.

“The NCT offers protection to ensure that the vehicle that is being used is in a roadworthy condition for the general public, the applicant and for our members,” he said.

“When they enter that car, it becomes their workplace.”

NCT backlogs

He said members are well aware of the NCT backlogs following on from the pandemic – but insisted it was the right time to roll back the exemption.

“We are very cognisant of the legacy issues to do with the pandemic that everybody in every walk of life needs to experience,” he said.

“But we needed to bring it to a head and we tried to do it through engagement and our members needed to feel safe in their workplace.

“If they don’t feel safe in regards to bringing out a car without an NCT, they can say sorry, the protocol is - and it is the RSA’s own policy - that you have to present with a car with a valid NCT.

“No valid NCT, no test.”

The RSA pulled back the exemption after the union instructed workers to stop taking tests in cars without valid certs.