A new National Car Testing Service inspection centre will open in Meath on Monday 5 July.
Located on the old Athboy Road in Navan, this will be the second NCT centre in the Meath region.
The opening of this new two-lane centre will see the NCTS network increase to 49 centres nationwide and over time, create an additional 12 jobs for the Meath area.
Speaking ahead of its first day of operations, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton TD, said “I am delighted to see the opening of this new two-lane centre in Navan which will serve the vehicle owner population of Navan, Dunshauglin, Slane, Trim and Athboy and will provide motorists with a convenient alternative that’s close to them, rather than having to travel to other neighbouring centres in Kells, Drogheda and Ballymun, Dublin The new centre in Navan will play its part in keeping vehicles and roads safe. The NCT as an important preventative road safety measure, ensures vehicles, particularly older vehicles using Irish roads are in sound working order, ensuring our roads are a safer place for our families and communities to travel. Of course, we should not forget too that it is also enhancing the environment by reducing harmful vehicle emissions”
Commenting on the opening Mr. Sam Waide, CEO, Road Safety Authority said, “The opening of this new centre will bring the NCTS network to 49 test centres which collectively will operate 109 test lanes across the country on a daily basis. The NCTS is at the core of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy for making our roads safe. If you do not get your car tested through the NCT as required you are putting yourself and others at risk by driving a vehicle that may be dangerously defective, for example with poor brakes, worn suspension, worn tyres, or defective lighting.”
Speaking at the announcement, NCTS provider, Mr Mark Synnott, Managing Director Applus+ Inspection Services Ireland Ltd said: “We are delighted to serve the people of Navan and surrounding areas with this new two lane centre, we are now inspecting more cars than ever before and in order to manage the increased demand for testing, we are delighted to open this new NCTS centre in Navan. Since Applus+ took over the operation of the NCTS service in January 2010, we have employed an additional 140 employees across our nationwide network of 49 test centres.
Mr. Synnott continued by saying that “We will also be opening additional centres in other parts of the country and enhancing existing centres with other service improvements on behalf of the RSA”.
The NCTS is responsible for the compulsory car inspection programme in Ireland and carry out over 1.8 million vehicle inspections annually. The primary aim of the NCTS is to improve road safety and enhance environmental protection by reducing harmful vehicles emissions in Ireland. For further information on the NCTS, visit www.rsa.ie or www.ncts.ie