Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I will ask a number of questions and ask the witnesses to make note of them and answer afterwards. If I stop after every question, I will not get through what I need to.

Obviously, the issue of waiting times is a huge one in many areas. It can be up to 11 months in west Cork, where I come from, in Skibbereen. It is a large geographical area from Castletownbere out to the Sheep's Head Peninsula and Mizen Head Peninsula and down into Clonakilty and Skibbereen. It is outrageous that people have to wait ten or 11 months for a test, from the figures I have here.

I also wish to discuss the American licence agreement. Why are people who spent maybe ten years in Ireland, went to America to work for some time and then came back not allowed to drive with an American licence? It does not make sense and it adds to the backlog of what is going on here when they have to go through a driving test. Surely to God that can be shifted, or how can we move to them getting instructors for, say, ten lessons just to get them driving, because they are well able to drive?

I will break this down a bit more in a minute. Are driving testers being given overtime? Can they do overnight work or evening work or bank holidays? This is the only way we are going to get the waiting times down, if testers can basically work around the clock to alleviate the problems that exist. Was the idea of training instructors to be testers ever considered? They could be testers in different areas to where they work as instructors. We have to look at every measure we can to try to bring the waiting times down.

In an engagement with the previous committee, the RSA stated that it would bring the service-level agreement back to ten weeks. This was in April 2024. It was stated at the time that this would be done by the summer. The statement today steadfastly says more or less the same thing again and that the waiting times will be down to ten weeks by September 2025. In all fairness, this promise has not been delivered on. Why would the public believe that this year will be any different? I might get an answer to that later on.

What specific measures have been implemented to make sure that this does happen? How many additional driver testers have been hired and what is the plan for further recruitment, specifically in my area of west Cork? We could talk about any area, but it states here that, in Skibbereen in January of this year, the figure was zero. Does that mean there was no driver tester in Skibbereen in January? The RSA says that, in May 2025, there will be one and two in September. We are going nowhere. We are going to be here again in the same situation in 12 months' time raising the same questions. I would appreciate if the witnesses would make note of this and answer me.

What are the target timelines for reducing the waiting times - Mr. Waide might have said that already - to the ten-week target? We know the impact that waiting for a test has on a person's life. Young people and their parents are continuously coming to our constituency offices pleading and we are getting the same generic drivel back from the RSA when we contact the organisation. These people are genuine and they are trying to start their lives. In many cases, they cannot get accommodation, so they have to use a car to get to their colleges. They are trying to start their courses. They are mainly young people and they cannot get on the road because they cannot get a test. God help any of them if they fail a test. Good God almighty, they will be back in the system again for another seven, eight or who knows how many months. It is a desperate situation for young people. I cannot understand why it was allowed to get so out of control. I have been talking about this issue since I was elected to Dáil Éireann in 2016. I was criticised by other Opposition TDs at the time, who said I was talking rubbish, but I obviously was not, because the proof is in the pudding here.

Are there significant differences in waiting times across various test centres? How is the RSA communicating to the public any updates and changes regarding driving test delays? The witnesses talked about Covid-19 but we are gone well beyond Covid-19 now. We need to move to the point of calling out some driver testers. I mean no disrespect to any individual and I will not mention any names, but I had a case recently, not for the first time, that someone had a legitimate insurance disc on the windscreen - this person went to the Garda afterwards, which confirmed it was legitimate, and to the insurance company that had posted the disc to the person - but the driver tester refused to do a test. Imagine someone being put back ten months by a driver tester's mistake. I have been in communication with the RSA since and all I have got is a drivel answer, not a proper one. There was no respect shown to the poor young person who was left broken-hearted at the test centre for no reason. I saw the difference in colour between a legitimate disc and a non-legitimate disc when the parents brought them to my office, but the tester did not. The son rang his parents straight away and said he could not get his test done. The parents went straight to the gardaí and a garda said that the disc was 100% perfect. They went to the insurance company and were told that the disc had been posted, the same as was done for everyone else and the disc was 100% perfect, but the tester refused to do the test. That might be a one-off case but there must be others like it. We are backlogging the problem and creating bigger problems.

Another issue is the American licence, so I would appreciate if that could be considered. Can any changes be made so that if someone comes here from the United States, he or she does not have to go through the same system - could be viewed as being at a learning stage - as if never having driven a car before? Could there be a separate agreement between America and Ireland, the same as there is with Japan, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan?