Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will let the Deputy go to his briefing. Perhaps he could give my apologies at his briefing as I will be here.

It makes more sense if we have more testers. If it is a short-term interim blip, I can understand why any business might recruit people on a short-term basis. However, it has been acknowledged that we have a large population that is increasing and is young. We have people coming into the system all the time. We have net inward immigration of people who need to apply for tests to get licences, so it makes sense. That is the impression that was given. Without committing to a figure, it would be approximately 165 or 170 testers in the long term. Mr. Creaney is welcome to look back at the broadcast and transcripts of what was said at the meeting, when they have been produced, as they will be for this meeting. Mr. Creaney will be able to see the Official Record and what was said on the broadcast.

It is positive news from where Mr. Creaney is coming from and the request he made in his opening statement. I thank him for its brevity as sometimes we get seven- or eight-page opening statements. Mr. Creaney's was just over a page. He articulated his point well and it makes sense, all things being equal, if the people who are doing the job are capable of doing the job and ticking the box to be permanent testers, which I imagine they are if they are already doing so as temporary testers. They are already doing the job, are well up the learning curve and will not have to be trained.

We can discuss whether we, as a committee, write or we write individually to suggest it to the RSA. However, it is equally important that we get ongoing feedback from the RSA about where this process is. No one wants to see waiting times as they were at 30 weeks at one stage. It was down to 24 weeks in mid-January. It was under 15 weeks only this morning, but it was 15 point something before that. However, as Mr. Creaney stated, it was approximately six weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic. The maximum, as per the service level agreement, SLA, is ten weeks. It is 50% higher than that. It was triple that. It is going in the right direction, but not quickly enough for the significant number of people who are waiting for tests. Their lives, job opportunities and college lives are certainly disrupted, if not on hold because of the scenario we are in.

Does Deputy Kenny wish to contribute briefly? We have kind of addressed all the points but he is welcome to contribute. If he repeats them all, I will let him know.