Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make an interesting observation on an area that has been covered by previous speakers. I am not sure if the representatives would have a view on it and I appreciate their authority is not the competent authority in this area. There are people who have had a full, clean licence for 15 years who at the time of the change in the rules applying to the licence inadvertently did not get a licence that legally allows them to pull a trailer on the road and yet 16 year olds have a licence that entitles them to drive huge vehicles carrying silage on the road. That is irresponsible. My children would probably have given out to me when they were that age for saying that, but I do not understand how with the acquisition of a simple tractor licence, a 16 year old can be left responsible for a vehicle pulling 12 or 14 tonnes of silage or grain behind it.

On the other hand, an experienced driver with no blemish on his or her career who would have been driving a vehicle on the road with a car trailer is no longer supposed to do this because of the changes in the system. I acknowledge there was an amnesty for those holding pre-1989 licences, but persons with licences issued between 1989 and 1999 who now have up to 16 years experience are excluded. The Health and Safety Authority might work with the Road Safety Authority to bring about a practical solution to both anomalies.