Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation today. It was certainly interesting and informative and gave us a clear understanding of how complex and complicated the whole system is. I acknowledge the contribution made in relation to the principal items, namely, income, business support, personal safety and the lack of consultation and involvement in the solution process.

We must find solutions for the almost 100,000 people awaiting a driver test and 55,000 awaiting a theory test. This is unacceptable. It is having a huge impact on people on a personal level and on business and on society in general. It is not acceptable and it must be addressed.

The witnesses have given us a good understanding of the problems and they have put forward many constructive ideas which will feed into the committee's report. Some of the proposals are a common sense way of addressing the issues. As almost everything has been said at this stage, I will not to be repetitive. I am happy to support the committee in putting forward a strong case on behalf of driving instructors in our report.

A pass rate of 54% was mentioned. This is one of the issues I raised with the Road Safety Authority when it appeared before the committee. Driving instructors are operating on the front line and they meet and understand learner drivers. In my opinion, once the learner has completed the essential driver training, EDT, the instructor has a good understanding of whether he or she will pass or fail the driver test. What surprises me is the level of failure and I raised that question with the RSA. Do the witnesses believe there is a level of standardisation across testers? The RSA has no oversight and no reporting system. I know of a situation where one tester failed five people in the one day. I raised this with the instructors involved in those five cases and four of them could not understand how their client had failed. Is there a need for the RSA to end the variation in testing and results, which I believe is feeding into the enormous failure rate of approximately 56%?