Mr. Dominic Brophy:

I am the chairperson of Unite the Union ADI branch. Attending with me today are Mr. Darragh Dunne, our branch secretary, and Mr. Aidan Jordan, our branch learning representative. We are all qualified and registered approved driving instructors and today we bring combined experience of 57 years in road safety.

I thank the Chairman and the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks for this opportunity to share how Covid-19 has dramatically affected our businesses. We are keen to share our vision and solutions on how we will continue to work safely alongside this deadly virus and, post-Covid, how we can all work together in a calm and constructive manner for the betterment of driver education and road safety.

In early March 2020 we learned through the media that our country was entering the first lockdown and that the Road Safety Authority had suspended all its services. The first lockdown was planned by the Government to last six weeks. We were informed that we would all received pandemic unemployment payments. We understood and supported the need for this lockdown. Initially, the PUP was a great help to most driving instructors. However, many ADIs come to our profession later in life. If they had existing pension entitlements or were at a pensionable age, they did not qualify for the PUP. For those of us who receive the PUP, although we are grateful for this help, it is only sustainable for our businesses for a short period. Our costs remain the same. We have car loans that run into thousands of euro each year. We have insurance payments, website fees, registration fees and accounting fees. After one year out of business through repeated lockdowns, ADIs are really struggling financially. While some may have received the restart grant, most ADIs have received no industry-specific assistance grants simply because our industry is mobile in nature and we do not pay rates to local authorities.

Arguably, we pay an equivalent level of taxation through VAT and excise duty on fuel, which is a massive cost representing about 15% of our turnover.

On 29 June 2020, test centres reopened and some ADIs returned to work. The RSA emailed every ADI in the country to inform us that it had no industry-specific protocols to help us protect ourselves and said that, because we are self-employed, it would not be offering any in the future. It also informed us that facilities and shelter at test centres would be closed to us and went on to list its comprehensive expectations of ADIs and our cars before it would allow any RSA driver testers to enter.

I ask those at the meeting today to imagine the following scenario. They have left their house during this pandemic to carry out a day's work as an essential worker. During their day they will have no access to a toilet or hand hygiene and at certain times of the day they will be expected to clean their car comprehensively before RSA staff will enter. Then they must stand in a car park for one hour, in whatever weather, and clean their car comprehensively again on its return because RSA staff do not clean on exit.

This horrific pandemic has brought many of us together. We have all seen many examples of kindness and solidarity but sadly this is not the way ADIs have been treated by either the RSA or the Department of Transport. The RSA has informed us that it must keep its staff safe. It is correct it should do that but not at the expense of ADIs, who are a vital cog in driver education. The response to complaints we made about this to the RSA and the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, have been exactly the same. They have said that there is no need for a driving instructor to attend a driver test centre with a test candidate or remain at the test centre. We do not know what this means or how it encourages learner drivers to adhere to the Clancy amendment.

There has been much discussion and talk over the past weeks and months about the huge backlog for both theory tests and driver tests, which has arisen because of this pandemic. Some 98,414 learners are waiting for a driver test and 54,000 people are waiting for a theory test. This is a big problem which needs to be solved properly and sensibly in conjunction with ADIs and their representatives. The RSA has stated that it will have 40 additional testers in June and that it hopes to receive clearance for a further 40 some time after that. This would be a 58% increase in the driver tester workforce. The duration of a theory test is 45 minutes and the duration of a driver test is also 45 minutes. Between these two tests, going from nervous beginner to a level of competency capable of passing a driver test and being safe on the road, takes at least 30 hours of driving instruction. These figures alone make it obvious why ADIs must be a part of the conversation and the solutions.

There are currently 1,761 approved driving instructors on the RSA register, across all the various categories of licence. There is no record of how many of these instructors are full-time or part-time, but our own research shows that the cohort of part-time ADIs is significant. ADI numbers have decreased steadily from a high of 2,000 in 2011 to present-day number, which is why the current plan of reducing the lists as quickly as possible is too one-dimensional and only invites further problems into the driver education system. The ADI branch of Unite the Union is willing and able to work with the RSA and the Department of Transport to solve present-day problems and to improve and progress driver education in the future. We require proper and definite back to work sole trader grants and automatic permit renewal which would waive our registration fees. We work in perilous conditions to provide an essential service to the State and for this we simply ask for meaningful dialogue and a significant say in our own industry.

I thank the members for their time.