Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Up to December 2022, two driver testers were based in and working out of Skibbereen. Those two testers were relocated from Skibbereen. A full-time tester was appointed once again at the end of December. However, there is an urgent need for a second full-time tester in Skibbereen to cater for the huge area of west Cork. We have a shocking transport service in west Cork, and everybody depends on a car. Many of our younger people are trying to get a driving test and now the waiting list is seven months for them as they try to get on with their lives for work or for other reasons. I brought this issue up with the previous Taoiseach and failed to get anywhere. I am pleading with the new Taoiseach to try to intervene to get a second driver tester appointed to Skibbereen. It is a huge area. We are talking from Ballinhassig out west to Skibbereen, obviously, up into Beara and the Mizen Head and Sheep's Head peninsulas, a huge area to cover with one tester. It is not fair on the young people of west Cork.

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