Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses for attending and for their presentations. We are all frustrated by the delays. I have received emails about this, including one from a young man who applied to take the driver theory test on 27 July last year but is still waiting. Like Senator Dooley, I wonder if we could be more innovative and expeditious in our approach to driver testing and essential driving training? I note from Mr. Naughton's remarks to the Chairman that the RSA gave four options to the Department. On the driver theory test, Mr. Naughton speaks about rolling it out, but why are we waiting until June to roll it out? The four options to the Department include recruiting 100 testers on an 18-month contract. Could the RSA not break those contracts into chunks of six months or two months given that we will be in level 5 until 5 April at least and maybe beyond?