Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I come from a rural constituency. I am sure that, like me, many Deputies have noticed an elderly cohort of people who have no licences. They previously had provisional licences because they might only have been driving tractors. They find the process cumbersome. They are not able - one time it was jumping into the back of a bus, but the testing centres have buildings now - to answer questions in order to get their provisional licences. I put it to Mr. Waide's predecessors that, for example, somewhere like Mondello Park could be used to give these people the opportunity to get some sort of a licence, at least for driving tractors. They might be the finest of drivers. They have been driving all their lives, but they are outside the system and nothing has ever been done about them. I would have been as well off not to have been here when some of the witnesses' predecessors were before the committee previously because nothing has been done. These are elderly people. I am referring to constituents who came to my house. My youngsters tried to help them and show them how to do the prototype. It is like a brick wall to them, however. They cannot get around it and it prevents them from applying for licences. I see instances where someone has a tractor in a field down the road but they cannot bring it up to their shed or their house because they do not have a licence. At one time they had successive provisional licences and 40 or 50 years ago many had no licences and were driving away. It is a different Ireland now. They want to have insurance and they want to do everything right, but they are not in a position to be able to answer the questions. The RSA will say help is available, but it does not matter. You can give them all they help you want. These individuals are the finest of drivers. Is there anything the RSA can do to help that cohort of people? I am not saying there is a huge number of them, but we should show some courtesy towards them to help them rather than pushing them outside the law.