Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Could the RSA make a specific request to the Departments of Transport and Public Expenditure and Reform to allow it to extend the contracts, given that it is under such extreme pressure? I expect that many of the 35 people will be reapplying for the jobs when they could instead be performing driving tests with young people who are looking to get their driver licences. This is difficult to fathom in the current crisis. The RSA wants to reduce the waiting time to ten weeks. There was a cohort of experienced personnel. Why did it not just look for a derogation from the Departments of Transport and Public Expenditure and Reform to extend or renew their contracts or to do something to keep their experience in the organisation? Thirty-five of them are no longer performing any driver testing and the RSA's waiting list is constantly building.