Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

On the issue of the efficiency or inefficiency of the driving tester system, I begin by wishing Mr. Gay Byrne the best of luck in his appointment as chairman of the Road Safety Authority. I thank Mr. Eddie Shaw for his services as chief executive. I wish the chief executive designate Mr. Noel Brett every success in an absolutely critical area. Mr. Byrne has rightly identified as an immediate priority the scandal of 400,000 people driving with provisional driving licences, which means that one in five drivers on the roads have not successfully completed a driving test. It is obviously critical to the economy, our social fabric and to the country that an effective and efficient driver testing system be in operation.

It is scandalous that 130,500 people are now waiting on average 32 weeks to take a driving test. The delay varies from place to place: in Portlaoise it is 63 weeks, in Raheny it is 58 weeks and in Wicklow it is 50 weeks. Obviously driver testing is rightly a fundamental part of the Government's road safety programme. According to the Department of Transport, the backlog is due to a surge in applications between December 2000 and March 2003. The Government has identified outsourcing as a solution to the problem, which would be especially effective if the work were done during the summer months when the days are longer and more time is available. However, because of a clause in the Sustaining Progress agreement, outsourcing to deal with the inefficiency of the driver testing system is prohibited.

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