NCT report to be released for vehicle involved in fatal crash

The mother of a young woman who was killed while driving a defective car said she is "delighted" she will receive the report from the vehicle’s final NCT.

Paula Murphy, from Farranree in Cork, had appealed to Applus Car Testing Service, the company that oversees the National Car Testing Service, to release the test results following the death of her daughter Amanda O’Flaherty, 26, who was killed in a two-vehicle crash near Cobh on December 29, 2012.

An inquest at Cork City Coroner’s Court heard evidence that Ms O’Flaherty’s 95-D registered Mazda 121, which she had bought six months previously and had a valid NCT cert, was not roadworthy.

A Garda public service vehicle inspector found defects in its rear suspension, which, he said, would have made the vehicle unstable before and during cornering.

Applus had refused to issue Ms Murphy with the NCT results on data protection grounds, but upon hearing her story, the Road Safety Authority intervened and yesterday ordered the firm to disclose the results.

“I’m delighted, I thought it was a hoax when I first got the call,” Ms Murphy said.

“I’ve been through so much in the last few weeks, I just wanted some closure.”

Ms Murphy said she had spent weeks calling a number of offices in her attempts to secure the test results.

“I don’t think people should have to go through all that, especially family or next of kin. I was asking myself how long I would have to go on, who else I would have to ring. It felt like every door was being shut in my face.”

Dara Murphy, the junior minister with responsibility for data protection, whose department yesterday asked the National Car Testing Service to explain its decision to withhold the information, welcomed the U-turn.

“But I’m not happy that this lady had to go to so much trouble to get the information in the first place,” he said.

“I compliment her for her courage and her dignity but she should not have had to go through the media to get this type of data.”

Mr Murphy said while state bodies have a responsibility to prevent the release of an individual’s data to a third party, it should be biased towards releasing that data once it has satisfied itself as to the identify of the person seeking the information, and their connection to the data being sought.

He said this connection was easily established in Ms Murphy’s case.

The RSA has apologised to Ms Murphy and her family “for any hurt and aggravation caused by the delay in issuing the certificate”.