Mr. Darragh Dunne:

In submissions we made to the Department of Transport and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, we had proposals for a number of ways to help clear the overall backlog in the whole learning to drive system.

Included in them was the possibility that an approved driving instructor, ADI, would have a very good idea of someone's skill level will have the permission to propose that person for a driver test. We have submitted that proposal already.

On the volume of work, driving instructors can only do a finite number of lessons per day or per week. For each hour of a lesson that we do, we spend another hour going to and from customers' homes and test centres and doing all of the ancillary work that is involved in our business.

There are opportunities to relieve the pressure on the learning to drive process. I suggested some earlier and there is a long list that we can submit to the committee. One simple opportunity to clear some of the pressure is for motorcycle lessons to be allowed to go ahead. When a motorcyclist is learning to ride his or her bike, he or she travels by himself or herself; there is no physical contact. The learner spends all of his or her time outdoors. Therefore that is another opportunity to clear some of the pressure on the learning to drive process. There are some ADIs who instruct in both motorcycles and in cars, so some of the pressure can be alleviated there.

On the issue of increasing the numbers of ADIs operating, one of the major disincentives is the check test that we are required to do. As has been mentioned, among this group there is much experience. For example, I have been a driving instructor for 16 years, yet every two years I am required to do a check test to prove that I can still give a basic level of instruction. The RSA will say how complex and multifaceted learning to drive is, and that it needs to maintain high standards, but I would put it to the committee with the greatest of respect that the members' jobs are far more complex and multifaceted than mine and there is no test for members. I am not suggesting that members should be tested every two years-----