Two staff members at a Dublin National Car Testing (NCT) centre have been fired for accepting bribes from car dealers to allow their vehicles to skip the queue, and gardaí are now making further enquiries into whether there are any other "irregularities" at the centre.

"Car dealers who did not have their cars booked in, did not have an appointment, were being allowed skip the queue," said a senior garda source. "The company has said that the integrity of the test has not been jeopardised and that there was no question that the test itself has been tampered with."

When contacted, a spokeswoman for SWS Ireland Ltd, which has responsibility for the provision of national car testing until the end of the year, said it could not comment on issues relating to employees. "We can't confirm or deny this information. It's company policy not to discuss staff. We are audited by the AA and our own internal audit team. In terms of the integrity of the test, there is no question in relation to its integrity."

Gardaí are now making further enquiries into whether there are any other "irregularities" at the NCT centre.

Informed sources told the Sunday Tribune the two employees who were allowing car dealers to skip the queue were doing so in exchange for €50 per car, and it was being done on a widescale basis.

They were caught in the act and fired within the past four weeks.

The revelation that car dealers were allowed to skip the queue has come to light at a time when there is a three-month wait for members of the public to have their cars tested.