Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We can consider that, with the agreement of the committee.

The next correspondence is No. 691B from Mr. Ken Spratt, Secretary General of the Department of Transport, dated 25 June, providing detailed information requested by the committee at our meeting with the Department on 27 May. It includes information on a range of issues, including driver theory tests, the DART interconnector project, the Coast Guard, the process for appointing new members to agency boards, and roads improvement and maintenance. The proposed action is to note and publish this correspondence.

I wish to raise a few points about this, as does Deputy Catherine Murphy. A detailed amount of information came with the correspondence. The information of particular interest to me relates to the suspension of driver theory tests. The Department points out that work is progressing on ensuring that the Road Safety Authority, RSA, has sufficient facilities for temporary testers and that the current plan is to have these in place by July. The Department mentions that the current facilities are being expanded, where possible, to accommodated new testers. The intention is to add six new driver test centres, which is welcome news. A centre will open in Birr in my constituency at the County Arms Hotel. The Department says that, in line with the further easing of restrictions, the gradual reopening of in-person driver theory tests commenced on 8 June. The RSA will reopen its network of test centres and will be permitted to conduct 25,000 theory tests per month.

Having read all of this, I am still baffled as to why the theory test was not continued during the pandemic, given that it is carried out in cubicles and does not involved large gatherings of people in rooms. I understand that the test is carried out in a specially designed kiosk. I fail to see why the tests were suspended.