Ms Verona Murphy:

The difference between an agricultural contractor and a HGV driver is that all of the latter's work is carried out on the public highway, be it on the motorway or in rural or urban areas. If a driver spends nine hours of his day driving, the likelihood is that there are many instances in which he can incur penalty points. Whether it is a camera or a roadside check for any type of infringement, he possibly can lose his licence on a trip from Cork to Dublin. We do not advocate that this should be the case or that there should be bad practices but they are far more heavily regulated. When young people get 12 points they will lose their licence. That does not mean that they lose their job. For many of them it means they cannot drive a car for social purposes. They will get another job and somebody can drive them to work but the issue is what they do after work. We have already requested that it might be possible to have the number of penalty points increased for the professional sector, but we have been told that this makes no sense as the professional driver should be more professional. There are arguments for it in both spheres. Unfortunately for us, the average age of our drivers is 55 years. We have an apprenticeship programme developed and ready to go for the last 12 months but we have not received certification. If we are going to put three years of effort into training drivers, we should at least be encouraged to get it under way when we are under this pressure.