Mr. Noel Brett:

I will respond to Deputy Ellis's question about driver licensing for tractors. At the age of 16 one can get a W licence to drive a tractor. If one is driving on private property one does not need a licence at all and there is no age requirement. It is the responsibility of the farmer or the employer.

In response to Deputy Mattie McGrath’s questions, if tractors were ever to be tested they could most definitely not be tested in an NCT centre. They would have to be tested in a local garage that has the competence, expertise and machinery to handle them. It is definitely not a business that could be carried out in an NCT centre.

We would like to see more debate on whether higher vehicles with higher speed capacities should be tested. I refer to vehicles that can travel at 50 km/h and above that carry higher loads in public places. The issues of concern relate to couplings - for example, the matching of speed ratings on trailers. A tractor might be capable of a very high speed or might be a specialist piece of kit that has a 20 km/h or 30 km/h rating on its coupling. Braking is also important, including whether the brakes are anti-lock and how they are functioning. Of importance also is plating – what a trailer weighs and what it is permitted to carry. For instance, what type of trailer is required to carry a big Hymac? Driver training is important for those driving such vehicles. We are keen to work with Macra na Feirme and the Irish Farmers Association to develop training for young people who will drive such specialist vehicles.

I am out of my depth on road works so I will not respond to Deputy Tom Fleming’s question. I will defer to Mr. Martin O'Halloran and his colleagues on the issue. I have not looked specifically at taxis. With regard to the mention of vehicles aged over ten years, the pass rate at the NCT for ten-year old vehicles is now 43%. It has gone up by 7% in recent months since we introduced annual testing for ten-year vehicles. That is what we were aiming to do in order to make such vehicles safer. Vehicles more than ten years old will not necessarily have passenger protection equipment such as airbags and anti-lock brakes but the RSA has not examined the issue in the context of taxis. I do not know the profile of the taxi fleet so I am not competent to say anything other than to make general remarks.

On the query on the cutting of roadside hedges, this is an issue of significant concern to the Road Safety Authority. I have taken up the matter with local authorities, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Dúchas. I am advised that for safety reasons one can cut back hedges. We want to see hedges cut back leading up to junctions so people can see the signage. We are also worried about foliage that grows out and pushes pedestrians and cyclists, including schoolchildren, into the thoroughfare. There is also much damage to haulage vehicles and agricultural vehicles, which lose wing mirrors, for example. The life of a vehicle is significantly impaired when one has big boughs hanging out onto the road. We would like to see a balance and a calibration back in favour of road safety. Human life must come first. We must redress the balance. The kind of weather we have had recently has resulted in extreme growth. People have not been able to get into fields to cut hedges from the other side because it is so wet.

I have covered all the questions I can. Perhaps Mr. O’Halloran could add to what I have said.