Vehicle-owners on some offshore islands are to be exempt from the new National Car Test (NCT), which comes into effect on January 1st.
The exemption includes cars "permanently based on islands not connected to the mainland by road or roll-on-roll-off ferry".
So the test will still apply to residents of Valentia in Co Kerry, Achill in Co Mayo, and islands with a tidal link. Testing will also apply on Arranmore island, Co Donegal, and Bere island, Co Cork, the only two with ro-ro ferry services.
However, Comdhail Oileain na hEireann, the Irish Island Federation, is very pleased that the special provision will cover most of the other populated offshore areas, including the Aran islands in Co Galway.
The federation had to lobby hard to make a case for the testing of commercial vehicles on the Aran islands, rather than on the mainland, when this became law.
"It had involved huge cost for the owners to transport buses into Galway, and they used to lose the use of their vehicles for several days. We are very glad now to see special recognition for island drivers in the case of the NCT," Ms Eilis Ui Chathain of the federation said.
"We would like to see a special case now being made by insurance companies, given that we don't have the same accident record for cars as onshore. Only one insurance company so far has been considering introducing special rates."
The Department of the Environment has no accurate record of the number of cars affected by the exemption, but estimates that it could cover "a few hundred". It also emphasises that the exemption applies to cars used only on the islands, and never on the mainland. Thus an Aran islander who might keep a pre-1992 car in Galway for use on the mainland will be required to submit that vehicle for scrutiny.
The NCT currently applies only to about 450,000 pre-1992 registered vehicles, but it will be extended in 2001 to cars first registered between 1992 and 1996. All cars at least four years old will be required to be tested from 2002.
Owners will be notified by post within eight weeks of the anniversary month of first registration and the cost is £35, including VAT.
The Automobile Association (AA) believes that the exemption of islanders represents a "concession to practicality". Mr Conor Faughnan of the AA said the NCT was introduced on the basis that no car would have to travel more than 30 miles to a centre. The three mobile units backing up the other 43 bases in the State will be under enough pressure, he said.
"There are two reasons for this test, both safety and environmental. Because of their remote location, islanders have a very good safety record. And air quality on islands is not subject to anything like the same pressure as that in urban areas.
"Legislation is already on the statute books to ensure that cars are roadworthy. So the gardai already have the powers to take cars they are unhappy with off the road, be they on islands or elsewhere."
One set of proposed regulations which could affect islanders far more than mainlanders may become law in the next few years. Small boats, used for transport or for sea angling and tourist trips, are expected to come under new licensing arrangements introduced by the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources.
Inconsistencies in the current regulatory framework for commercial boats which are not engaged in sea fishing were highlighted at one of a series of workshops hosted by the Marine Institute.
Of an estimated 500 vessels in the category, between 275 and 300 are licensed to carry 12 or fewer people, and about 160 ferries are licensed to carry 12 people or more, according to the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources.
However, whereas sea-angling boats travelling more than three miles from land or 15 miles from point of departure are subject to merchant shipping load-line rules, vessels working within three miles are exempt.
