Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill. We must consider the various methods of transport. We should consider whether more advantageous methods of transport of commercial goods are available and whether they should be considered and planned for in the future. I refer to the transport of goods by rail which has fallen out of favour in recent years. However, as a method of transport, it could be most advantageous in several areas. Clearly, this is a more long-term objective, but it should be considered and planned for in the future. Consideration should be given to strategic planning to reduce as much as possible the level of transport of goods by road because rail transport offers considerable advantages, especially in terms of protecting the environment, safety and alleviating traffic congestion. Significant environmental questions arise from the numbers of huge juggernauts and heavy goods vehicles on the roads on a daily and hourly basis. Significant safety questions arise also. There is no doubt that rail transport is considerably safer than road transport, especially in the transit of goods. It would be worthwhile if the main centres of commerce were linked by rail services and if they were used extensively. If necessary, support should be given to the transport of goods by rail. The reduction in congestion as a result of increased rail transport would be another important advantage. Although there has been a move away from rail transport in recent years, we should consider it as a strategic option which should be planned for in the future.

The summary of the digest on the Bill provided by the Oireachtas Library and Research Service reads: "This Bill overhauls the system for testing the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles in Ireland and permits the Minister for Transport to assign new functions in this area to the Road Safety Authority (RSA). In addition the driver licence system is being centralised and transferred from the Local Authorities to the RSA." Therefore, there are two objectives, the first of which is to test the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles. The second is to centralise the driver licensing system. I will refer to the latter objective first.

I have a serious problem with the centralisation of the driver licensing system, as the system we have in place is quite good. The digest on the Bill provided outlines a point I wish to highlight. It states:

The review also concludes that the existing licence-delivery processing system has many advantages. For example, the current system is locally based, has a reasonably quick turnaround time for licences and is accessible to customers.

There is too much centralisation and the less there is, the better. Services to the public should be provided locally, if possible. There are considerable advantages to be gained in providing such public services locally. As the digest states, they are locally based and accessible and there is a good turnaround time. The experience of increasing centralisation of services in recent years suggests it is not the be all and end all of policy and it should not be considered or imposed willy-nilly by any Government. We need only consider the recent centralisation of the medical card system to realise it is fundamentally flawed. Everyone in the House deals with medical card customers on a daily basis, many of whom have been waiting months. It has been a complete and absolute disaster. The system continues to be difficult to deal with and people find it difficult to get their medical card. It is even difficult for public representatives to deal with.

The digest gives an outline of the centralised driver licencing system provided for in the legislation as follows:

A centre of excellence will be established within the RSA to manage services relating to identity management, medical fitness and contract management. This will involve a number of staff additional to existing staffing levels who may be redeployed from MTOs.

Whenever I hear the term "centre of excellence", a doubt is raised in my mind because the various centres we are supposed to have are anything but centres of excellence. All acute hospital inpatient services in north Tipperary were transferred to Limerick, we were informed to a centre of excellence, but it has turned out to be anything but.

The digest provides more information on the proposed legislation as follows:

A person receives a unique identifier when applying for a theory test which will follow him/her through all aspects of the licensing process.

An application for a learner permit/driver licence will be made through a "front-office"' network of agents, who will carry out some basic checks on the application and supporting documents before forwarding them to the central processing unit.

A central processing unit will be set up to process applications and deal with day-to-day customer service queries.

Databases covering the Driver Theory Test, Driving Test and NVDF will be streamlined to increase efficiencies and improve customer service.

The service will meet its operating costs from licensing fees.

Where have I heard that one before? I have heard it before almost word for word; all one has to do is replace "driver licence" with "medical card". This is exactly what was proposed in respect of the current debacle that is the centralised medical card applications system.

I am concerned that if the centralisation of the driver licensing system goes ahead the result will be similar to what we have experienced with the medical card system. Services such as this should be provided locally where they are accessible to customers. There is no necessity for the centralisation of this service.

This question has been raised by other interested parties including the IMPACT trade union which stated that this proposal goes against a recent OECD report on the public service in Ireland which argued that local authorities should be used more frequently in delivering public services. It further stated that the current service also enjoys a very high rate of customer satisfaction, and that this proposal runs a very serious risk of further eroding local services. The suggestion that the driver licensing system be centralised at a national level should be re-examined. Local authorities, which have provided this service for some time, are doing a good job and should be left to do it. I welcome the idea of a plastic card driver licence as provided for in the legislation. However, I would not support centralising the system.

Everybody can support the sections dealing with testing of commercial vehicles for road worthiness. Generally speaking, I would not have a difficulty with the many sections dealing with that. There will be a need for detailed scrutiny of those sections as the Bill goes through this House, the committee and back to this Chamber for further consideration. Commercial vehicles are involved in 20% of all road fatalities, and 32% of commercial vehicles tested at roadside checks in 2011 were found to require immediate action. That is unacceptable and must be dealt with quickly.

The figures on this area are very informative. In 2011 there were just under 600 roadside checks at which 4,919 vehicles were checked. A total of 47.8% of those vehicles had defects, and 32% had defects serious enough to warrant immediate action, that is, impoundment, repair on site or a new test. There is no doubt we need to upgrade the regulations and ensure commercial vehicles are in proper working order and are safe to operate on the roads.

Mr. Noel Brett of the Road Safety Authority has stated that in January and February of this year there were 13 fatalities arising from road traffic accidents in which commercial vehicles were involved. The RSA has said also that each fatality costs approximately €2.5 million, which means that road deaths in 2011 would have cost €465 million. That is a cash cost but there are many other costs, including the trauma that arises for families. We must have a system in operation that ensures these vehicles are fully operational and are in good repair. We expect there would be a further reduction in road fatalities and in non-fatal accidents also.

As I said, I have no particular difficulty with the sections on the road worthiness aspect but I have a difficulty with the transfer of this service to the Road Safety Authority. Effectively, it is a centralisation of the service. If we consider the problems identified in the PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, report on this, of which there are a number, they include inconsistency in the application of testing centres across the country; inadequate communications between the RSA, local authority officers and authorised testers; limited roadside enforcement by the Garda; possible conflicts of interest due to reliance on the integrity of the various stakeholders; poor statistical information; no central database and so on. While I am sure difficulties arise in the current system that does not mean the service must be centralised under the Road Safety Authority. Provided reasonable resources are put in place and a reasonable review and monitoring of the system is done on an ongoing basis, and with the new technology type facilities that are available, there is nothing in the report by the PwC which would mean, for instance, that the system would have to be transferred to any other authority. Those are difficulties but they can be addressed fully by the local authorities and the other agencies involved.

This Bill is stripping functions from local authorities. I understood, as I am sure did every other Member, that the future of local authorities was not to strip functions from them but to give them new functions and to modernise and upgrade local authorities, yet in two key areas, namely, the driver licensing system and the road worthiness testing, local authority functions are being reduced. In the case of the driver licensing system, our experience is that major difficulties will arise with that and I appeal to the Minister to allow the local authorities continue the system they are operating. If it needs to be upgraded or modernised, well and good, but they are doing a reasonably good job and they should be allowed to continue to do it. They are locally based with easy customer access and have a good turn-around time, which is not the case with the medical card system. I am concerned that the system being proposed will experience the same difficulties as that system.

The lack of availability of credit is becoming a serious problem for hauliers and agricultural contractors and has resulted in a significant increase in the age of heavy goods vehicles on our roads. Last week, the Minister of State and I met agricultural contractors who pointed out the major difficulties they face in accessing credit. By closing down access to credit, the banks have created serious problems in terms of the age and roadworthiness of vehicles on our roads. The Minister must address this issue.

The cost of fuel is a major consideration for hauliers and agricultural contractors. It is a pity a recent proposal to reduce the cost of fuel by 5 cent per litre was not accepted. While such a reduction would not have been significant, it would have indicated to industry that the Government acknowledged the problems it faces.

The issue of fuel laundering must also be addressed. While it is open to question whether the introduction of a rebate system would solve the problem, it is clear something must be done to address the issue as it is creating serious difficulties for commercial companies and private car owners.

See this speech in context