Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and to make a number of points. There is a need to question the process involved in the delivery of services by the State which involves the separation of functions among the Civil Service and publicly owned agencies. We must ask whether the process necessarily guarantees improved service delivery. The main objective of the Bill appears to be a mere restructuring of the process rather than the introduction of innovative new approaches to driver training, safety and instruction.

It has been fortuitous for the Government that the strategic thinking which directed the State over the last 50 years has brought great benefits and economic success. While the thinking which began with T.K. Whitaker and our investment in education have helped to bring us significant success, the current Government in particular has failed to deliver services locally. The Civil Service has been unable to deliver services effectively for which incredible failure at a time of economic plenty the Government receives and deserves a great deal of appropriate criticism. Driver testing is a prime example of the anarchical circumstances which have developed. There are extremely long waiting times for tests as a result of our inability to organise our simple affairs.

I acknowledge a certain justification for the maintenance of the central Civil Service Departments as the strategic planning element of State services coupled with what might be termed "delivery agencies". I am seriously concerned, however, that there is a risk Parkinson's law will apply whereby the creation of agencies leads simply to the creation of extensive bureaucracies which are expensive to run and duplicate services and resources. Such agencies are not necessarily more efficient or better at providing services than existing systems.

A board is to be established through the legislation before the House. As a Deputy who has considered the operations of various boards, I identify the creation of boards as the area in which we have been least effective. Politically appointed boards in Aer Lingus, An Post and a range of other State agencies with which I am familiar have failed to recognise and anticipate problems. The board of An Post failed to involve itself in any real strategic thinking within the company. When I see the establishment of a plethora of further boards, I must ask whether they constitute an extension of the Fianna Fáil machine and apparatus. For what gain will the 11 members of the board of the proposed driver-testing authority be provided with compensation for expenses and whatever other financial provision is made?

The Minister said the strategic planning function will remain within the Department, which I agree is appropriate. If the civil servant at assistant secretary level appointed to run the proposed agency must report to the Minister every year, what will the board do? If the Department can provide strategic planning, what will be the function of the board? What does the Minister believe the 11 members of the board will provide that cannot be provided from within the Department or which will not represent a duplication of Civil Service expertise? The initial sections of the Bill provide for the elaborate establishment of boards which I fear will constitute simply another jobs-for-the-boys arrangement within the Fianna Fáil Administration.

I could not agree more with Deputy Shortall's analysis that we face a crisis of delivery which was created or at least exacerbated by the previous Minister. The wording the current Minister used to describe the way circumstances arose was quite sweet. He indicated that the waiting list problem emerged in 2003 as a result of concerns about stiffer regulations due to reports in the media as if those reports emerged out of thin air. He implied that the media made a sudden decision that there would be stiffer regulation which had nothing to do with the previous Minister who was well known to air his thoughts on Sundays on the national airwaves if he felt for whatever reason that it was too quiet in RTE or the constituency of Dublin South. Deputy Shortall was correct to identify the mess we are trying to sort out as a politically created one.

In sorting out the mess, I urge the Minister to go a great deal further than he proposes. I noted in his contribution that he intends to introduce on Committee Stage wider provisions on the remit of the authority in the area of road safety. I encourage him to do so. It is difficult on Second Stage to debate a Bill when we do not know what further provisions will be included. I encourage the Minister to add a number of further provisions as I wish the Bill had been more radical in the first place.

Systems are in place in other countries which we should examine. Rather than provide for a simple system in which an L plate leads to a full licence, we should consider introducing a system in which one must sit a test before receiving a licence which allows one to drive. The initial test should entitle one to an L plate licence and, after due instruction and testing, one should obtain a provisional or P licence which would apply for two years. In such a system, specific rules would apply to a provisionally licensed driver during the first two years on the road. Many accidents involve people who have recently passed their tests and driven away from the testing centre like Michael Schumacher under the impression that they were kings of the road.

Under an alternative system, a person driving away from the test centre would do so with a P plate on his or her car to indicate that he or she is only newly tested and approved as a driver. If speeding or other penalty-point offences were committed in the first two years of driving, especially stringent punishments would be applied. After two years as a provisional driver, a person would be entitled to a full licence. To introduce such a system would have been to make a radical and appropriate change. I regret very much that the opportunity provided by the Bill was not used to review innovatively the driver-testing system.

If we are to establish a bureaucracy with a board of directors which incurs expenses driving to Ballina, we should provide it with a slightly wider remit. The Minister referred to safety and penalty points issues, but the authority could also be involved in the introduction of electronic tolling which requires a national approach. Given the amount of toll roads being introduced around the country, they should be free flow and variable in order to manage traffic demand in addition to raising revenue, the function for which the Minister has designed them. There should be a transponder in every car so that it can be operated electronically wherever one goes. This will help stop ridiculous delays at toll booths and the costs involved in their construction. The authority could also examine electronic tolling on the West Link and other roads. Otherwise, what will the board do?

I wish to address the important and frustrating issue of democratic accountability specifically to the Ceann Comhairle, with whom I am in more regular correspondence than with the Minister. No matter how many appropriate questions I ask regarding road or rail policy I never hear back from the Minister. I hear instead from the Ceann Comhairle telling me it is not a matter for the Minister but the NRA. This has been the most frustrating experience in my time as a Member of the House. It does not strengthen or prove the quality of our democracy, rather it is one of its biggest threats. We are increasingly restricted. Members on both sides of the House have a valuable and useful role in overseeing and checking the effectiveness of our expenditure and delivery. The inability of this House to question organisations such as the NRA, as well as this new institution given the similar manner in which it has been established, is a profound reversal of our democratic institutions. Will the Minister consider this and respond to the question on Second Stage?

I look forward to Committee Stage when we will perhaps look to expand, improve and add to the provisions of this Bill, which currently represent a very limited and poor response to the chaos left behind by the previous Minister.

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