Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

It is more than diminishing. The Deputy would be shocked at the average number of tests delivered. The system is quite untenable. In all my years in public life I have never seen anything as bad. The more one digs, the more one becomes appalled. Deputy Mitchell is correct in saying this is grossly unfair to the customers out there trying to get a test, and it is also having a major impact on road safety. I appreciate the level of unanimity in the political spectrum that the current situation is not sustainable, and that it is utterly wrong that one small group has used every system available for more than 12 months to block the delivery of a solution in terms of removing the backlog of people awaiting driving tests.

The driving tester service operates under the provisions of section 33 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 and in accordance with the regulations made under that Act. The driving test is also governed by requirements of EU directives — something we all forget — which stipulate the EU-wide maneouvres to be carried out, which are also set down in regulations under section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. As the regulatory and legislative framework of the driving test service is consigned within the Road Traffic Acts, it would not be appropriate to include the amendments in this Bill. I am however considering bringing amendments to this section and I am sure Deputy Mitchell will have tabled some amendments for the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill which I will bring to the House shortly. We will deal with the issue under that Bill in the next few weeks.

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