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Ireland is to improve its commercial vehicle testing programme - partly because of the number of serious defects found in Irish-registered vehicles travelling through the UK. The Irish government said last week that the country's Road Safety Authority (RSA) would take over the commercial vehicle testing regime, which has previously been operated by local authorities. A review conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers recommended a major overhaul.

Noel Dempsey, Ireland's Minister for Transport, says: "The review was conducted on the request of my predecessor, following Government and public disquiet relating to a number of high-profile road collisions involving commercial vehicles and the high number of Irish-registered vehicles detected with serious defects by the UK authorities in the course of EU-required inspections."

One key change in the new set-up is a proposal to target operators thought most likely to offend, similar to the method already used in the UK. The Irish also plan to link the annual vehicle test with operators' fleet and maintenance records, establish a new IT system for the entire vehicle testing network, and put an end to operators from testing their own vehicles.

The RSA has already begun to increase the number of roadside checks in conjunction with the Gardai, the Irish police force. There are 158 privately operated test centres in the Republic  of Ireland, with compulsory roadworthiness testing currently applying to 230,000 commercial vehicles. Responsbility for vehicle testing was transferred from the Department of Transport to the RSA in September 2006.