Debate contribution: MOT Testing: Backlog

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 11 March 2024.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

11 March 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

MOT Testing: Backlog

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4270238

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Minister for joining us. I will start by following on from my colleague Peter McReynolds in acknowledging the great work that goes on by the staff. It has been acknowledged around the House that the staff in our MOT centres work in extremely challenging conditions that are not of their making. We have, potentially, the best record in Europe and across these islands with vehicle safety. When I have taken my car or my wife's car through the process, our MOT staff have always been professional and courteous, and they produce really high standards. I start by putting that on the record. As has been said across the House, this is one of the issues that we get loads of calls and stuff about in the constituency office from people who are furious at not being able to get appointments or at receiving fines for not having tax because they cannot get the MOT. Those become issues and become real to people. If we look to delivery, this is an issue where the Assembly needs to start. I hope that if we focus on a few things at the start, this is something that the Minister can resolve quickly. I also appreciate that the Minister has only been in post for a matter of weeks. However, the Minister was in post before the DUP walked out and before the collapse, and he remained Sinn Féin's infrastructure spokesperson during that time. I enjoyed sitting with him at the monthly briefings with the permanent secretary at the time. This is an issue that needs to be resolved and brought forward quickly. I hope the Minister is in a position to do that and I wish him well with it. The public does not really need repeated words; we have been hearing that since 2019. They need to see action on this. The kind of frustration throughout the public has been demonstrated and has been said here: it is action that people want to see. Solutions and ideas have been floated, so I am not going to go into those. DFI has said that capacity is the problem and that we are holding on to cars longer, and Peter referenced that earlier. What I find really concerning and surprising is that the Department had not worked that out years ago. The number of new cars being sold has been known for years and is announced annually. It is concerning that, as we are building new test centres, we do not even seem to know how many cars are going to need an MOT going forward. How, then, is that business model being put together to deliver the service in the first place? I sit on the Public Accounts Committee, which is chaired by Daniel McCrossan, as do Diane Dodds and Cathal Boylan, who are all here. We argued and debated about what one of the first investigations should be for the Auditor General, and that was to look at a public procurement.

The fact that those new MOT centres have not opened highlights a potential major procurement issue. We have spent millions on new test centres, and we have not got them. Those centres have been delayed for years, and they are still not open. That prevents current test centres from being refurbished and updated. Maybe the Minister can confirm when the new test centres at Hydebank and Mallusk will finally open. Recently, we were told that it would be in March of this year — this month — and now it is said to be 2025. That raises a load of questions about whether the test centres have been designed and built for the year in which they will open rather than the year in which they were designed. There has obviously been a serious change in the service requirement of the MOT system since then. I question whether the business case to build the MOT centres was capable of fully servicing the situation that we are now in and providing the new capacity that we will need. The answer to that will bring in the matter of whether value for money has been achieved. The question then becomes one of why the procurement has been run by DFI and not been done centrally, and, as I said, whether the future has been built into the business case. The more of those questions you ask, the more questions you raise. I hope that I am wrong, but it seems like déjà vu. I wish the Minister well, because I know that he will want to address and tackle the issue. The public need it to be addressed and tackled, and I hope that we can move on with the booking system so that we can get the service when we need it.

803 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:53 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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