Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Leas-Chathaoirleach that the website must be made more manageable and easily understood. Having listened to Mr. Synnott, this would confuse a nation. The public find it confusing and the sooner that Applus+ realises this, the better. I am a public representative dealing with the public every day and the anger, resentment and frustration directed against the organisation is palpable. I get this expressed every other day. This is why politicians and everyone else providing a service to the public are angry. I am angry with the Applus+ operation.

Turning to Mr. Walsh, I put the responsibility back on the RSA. It negotiated the contract and set the terms and conditions. I am shocked to hear today that this is a ten-year contract. Do we have to suffer another eight years of this mess? All I could describe it as is a total mess. I have a reasonable understanding of business and I know no one in the private sector who would give out a ten-year contract. Is there a break clause in this contract? If so, what is it, when can it be initiated and has that point been reached? Alternatively, is it the case instead that there is no break clause and we must suffer this situation for the remainder of the contract? Obviously, Applus+ has the RSA over a barrel legally in terms of both parties having obligations. I do not know what discussions there have been behind the scenes, but I am sure there has been plenty of agitation and friction between the RSA and Applus+, but they are stuck with each other now and we are stuck with the whole lot of them. This is the problem.

Mr. Walsh mentioned his organisation's national role and objectives. All I have to say in this regard is that the situation is a shambles with driver tests and NCT tests, and somebody must take responsibility for this. Every time he comes in here, we are told improvements are being made and that these are being pushed out. There is no point in telling me about improvements. I am getting letters every other day, from young people in particular, on this subject. We also have this safety campaign on our roads. We have young people being stopped by the Garda. We have young people trying to get around the country, including young nurses trying to get to their hospitals, young apprentices trying to go to their places of work and young students trying to get to college, but they cannot get a driver test. It is incredible.

The other aspect is that as a public representative I write to Mr. Walsh's organisation regularly. I could bring in a truckload of those communications to him, but all we get are these bland responses. A generic letter goes out to everyone. The attitude seems to be to just change the name and send it out and that will shut up the correspondent for a while. This is not good enough. I have made representations on several cases concerning people who should get a driver test on compassionate grounds. How is it possible to send such a letter in this context? I have a letter from a girl who submitted an application in April and the estimated test date was set for September. It was then delayed and pushed out to November. It was then delayed again and pushed out to December. As late as this morning, this person was told the test will happen in the first week of January 2024. What kind of a professional service is this meant to be? It is not a professional service but an incompetent one. Now, I made a case for that same girl on compassionate grounds because she is a third-year nursing student and has an upcoming eight-week placement, before and after Christmas. She is currently employed as a healthcare assistant in Kilkenny. Her father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and has been rendered incapable of driving. There is no one else to drive her. I asked that some measure of compassion be shown to that young girl to allow her to proceed, and, of course, I got the generic reply that it is not possible for her to jump the queue and she will be dealt with as the dates go on. There needs to be some bit of-----