Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Department has not done so, why not? New councillors have been elected to important positions to make important decisions. It is important to contact the representative body. Managers are appointed for seven years. They come and go. The members who are elected by the public comprise the legal local authority. It is important that the AILG is contacted on this matter and asked for its input. I ask the witnesses to convey that point to their superiors. I cannot for the life of me figure it out. This issue is not unique to the Department of Transport but also applies to the Department of housing and all other Departments. It seems that the last people who are spoken to, contacted or made aware of anything are the elected councillors and their representative body, the AILG. I ask that the cathaoirleach of each council is informed that this change is coming up. It will be an important job for local authorities and we need councillors to be aware so they can identify roads in their areas where there are accident black spots or problems with speeding. They can liaise with the local gardaí and other bodies as they need to. They can also liaise with the local area engineer. The key people will be the area engineers and local councillors. I want to know. I thank Mr. Campbell.

I will move to driving tests. Why is there a six-month waiting list in Portlaoise? That was the figure in the most recent reply I received to a parliamentary question I asked about driving test waiting times. Why is that happening?