Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our witnesses to the meeting. I compliment the members of the committee on their questioning thus far. There is a real need for our witnesses to reflect upon the questions that have been asked and the issues that have been raised. I have been a bit disappointed with the responses we have got. Deputies Carey and Lowry made some very important points.

We got very interesting correspondence from those involved in the car rental sector. They specifically asked that the RSA and the Department of Transport would consider extending the current testing window and increase resources, which could add further to the system. Like Deputy Carey, I can present the email in the context of the issues being faced by the car rental sector. I do not fly a flag for them because I have no involvement with them, but we have received this email and, out of courtesy, we should respond. It is important that our witnesses recognise that, within the whole NCT and licence area, there is concern, angst, worry and hardship, as has been articulated by all of the members. I am from Cork, like Deputy O'Connor. We in the Oireachtas have been inundated with requests. At this juncture, I thank the customer service team in the RSA and those in the driving licence section and the NCT section for their absolute courtesy to members, to me, to my staff and to my office.

I want to turn to the issue of road safety. I thank Mr. Waide for his presentation. What does he think is prompting the number of fatalities to rise from the figure in 2019, not 2021, given we have seen a very proactive campaign by the RSA in terms of its new road strategy and its advertising campaign?