Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

He only did so after the EU drew his attention to it and threatened to take action against him. It is inexplicable that the Minister has dropped the requirement for people undergoing a test to have a valid tax disc. There is no sense in that at all. We are trying to get compliance on licences, tax and insurance. This is one area where learner drivers could undergo some screening process as they must have an up-to-date tax disc. I cannot understand why the Minister has removed that requirement and it should be reinstated.

Another area deals with gender balance among testers. I am sure that due to equality legislation, those posts are available to females as well as males. I have not yet heard of anyone that has been tested by a female driving tester. I would like the Minister to provide the House with the figures on that when he is summing up. He should take positive steps to ensure that we have got to a stage where there was an equality of male and female testers within the services. That is important.

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