I welcome the statement by Minister Jack Chambers that he has made it clear to the Road Safety Authority, which has statutory responsibility for the provision of the NCT services, that people who do not have access to online or other electronic payment systems will continue to have other options to pay for the NCT service. This is a welcome statement by the Transport Minister of State.

A statement in regard to the NCT going cashless was made by NCT Ireland and understandably caused a lot of concern. I raised these issues directly with Minister Chambers and all statutory Agencies and public utilities must be conscious that cash is an important element of the payments system in this country and indeed internationally as well. Government should make that clear to all agencies under the remit of government departments and also to large organisations that are delivering public services on behalf of the State.