Mr. Dominic Brophy:

As far as the backlog numbers go, we are looking for a little sanity to be brought to the figures. We are not blaming anybody for the backlog. The backlog is a reality and it is there, and it is for the Road Safety Authority, the Department of Transport, driving instructors and all stakeholders to work together to bring down those numbers. However, we need to bring down the numbers in a calm, considered way.

The point I am trying to make is this. If we imagine the driver education experience for every learner driver as a tube, at the start of the tube there is the theory test; there is the learning for the theory test and then a 45-minute test. At the end of the tube, there is a driver test, which is also 45 minutes. These are two very important tests but, in the middle of that tube, the longest part of the tube, is the learning to drive experience. That is the domain of the driving instructor. We are talking about 45 minutes at the start, 45 minutes at the end but more than 30 hours in the middle. We have more than 90,000 people waiting for driver tests. About 5,000 of those actually have test dates at the moment, more than 60,000 are waiting for driver tests and more than 30,000 are those who have not completed the lessons and do not qualify to sit a driver test at the moment. If there are more than 50,000 people waiting to get into the theory test end of the tube, so to speak, and if that number is multiplied by the 12 lessons that are compulsory, we are talking about 600,000 lessons being released into the system. If we talk about 90,000 people waiting for a driver test and if, for example, they would on average require ten lessons per applicant, we are getting close to 1 million lessons in the system.

The number of driving instructors in the country and the number of customers we already had on our books pre-Covid, who will be on our books post-Covid, should be taken into consideration. Many of these people have already paid us for lessons, so for the first couple of months after we go back to work, we will be working for nothing because the money that was paid went during Covid. We are basically saying to the Road Safety Authority and the Department of Transport that we want to get through this list and work hard for the public who need their licences, lessons and to do their tests, but we need consultation. We need to ensure that people who are doing their theory test and want to do their driver test get a proper opportunity to pass their test. Every applicant needs at least four weeks' preparation before he or she sits a driver test. The instructors have to be able to sit with their customers, the applicants, formulate a plan for their driver test and decide, in plenty of time, whether they should go ahead with the driver test or whether it should be put back for a month or a number of months.

These issues are important and the reason we want to be at the table and to discuss these plans because nobody knows road safety like driving instructors. In this room alone, we have 57 years' experience. Our membership has many years of experience and we want that to be taken into consideration when clearing the backlog.