Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I am happy to speak on this Bill, which I welcome. I welcome its thrust, which is to cut the ridiculously long waiting times that people must endure to get a basic driving test. This must be welcomed. It will mean the end of the provisional licence anomaly which prevents applicants from getting a reasonable and convenient test date. Ultimately the Bill will prevent untrained and untested drivers from driving on our roads. One must question how this came about in the first place. The people responsible for it bear a great responsibility for our very high road accident figures. This problem has gone on for some time and must be rectified.

Currently, the average waiting time for a test is ten months, which is far too long by any stretch of the imagination. I do not see why people must wait so long and I understand that this Bill seeks to rectify the situation. I commend the Minister on the introduction of the Bill and for providing a bonus scheme that will award testers for extra productivity. This is to be welcomed although one must question why it is necessary. Nevertheless, if this is what is required to get people off the road or to get them tested, I welcome it. The provision to hire extra staff to carry out 40,000 tests on a once-off basis is more important. This is akin to the situation with the national treatment purchase fund which is a quick-fix solution to solve a particular problem. The national treatment purchase fund worked, but is still only a short-term, albeit a welcome, solution. I hope this initiative by the Minister will be equally successful in sorting solving the problem in the short term.

One must question whether this will happen again and if the extra productivity award system is necessary to ensure it does not. I ask the Minister to address the long-term capability of the Department to ensure that the existing backlogs are dealt with and do not recur. This measure will ease the embarrassing backlog of 124,250 tests which would have existed by the end of 2006.

Another point concerns the need for young people on the road to drive safely. Young people are inclined to drive much faster and to be involved in more road accidents and many young lives have been wasted in this way. However, many people have questioned the high cost of car insurance in the past. In particular the penalisation structure affects young people with a provisional licence. I am sure their accident rate is much higher but they have been cornered into paying sky-high prices for car insurance. Young people are forced to fork out between €2,000 and €3,000 simply to get a car on the road. We must keep an eye on this. I know that the Tánaiste has launched some initiatives in this regard and this will help.

The numbers of people taking the driving test surged from 180,000 in 2001 to 234,000 in 2003 as a result of the ban on people driving on provisional licences. The measure had to be welcomed but one must question whether it might have been possible to implement the change in a more phased manner. It might have prevented this backlog.

Fundamentally however, we must question whether the public transport system is capable of handling the needs of the thousands of provisional licence holders who will now be obliged to use the bus or train, should they be forced to leave their cars at home. People, particularly young people, have great difficulty in getting to work, especially in rural areas. For instance, I have come across cases where young people have been completely unable to keep a job because of an inability to get car insurance. It is important that we allow our young people to make use of transport but there must also be a balance to ensure that road safety standards are maintained.

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