Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I strongly support this amendment. When I first came to this brief, the fact I found absolutely unbelievable, as do many members of the public, was not only was there such a long waiting list for driving tests but 400,000 drivers did not have to pass a test. Once people sit the driving test a certain number of times, they never have to do so again and people made a life choice based on this. It makes a nonsense of having this huge bureaucracy to pretend we have a testing system to which one must apply. That bureaucracy is based in Ballina and is hugely costly, possibly inefficient and completely underresourced.

However, the rules are in place and we do not implement them. People sit the test but do not have to pass it, and after a certain point they do not even have to bother sitting it. It makes absolute nonsense of road safety aspirations and strategies and the crocodile tears we cry when we hear of further road accidents and road deaths. Licensing, testing and instruction systems are fundamental and must happen before anything else does. The system allows indifference to prosper.

Deputy Shortall's amendment is only a beginning, and represents a sensible place to start. If we do not require retesting, people can either continue as they are and never bother take a test at all, apply for the test and not show up because it is not that important to them or show up without having made any preparation and fail yet again. They further reinforce the failure of the system by turning up again and again.

If the Minister does not show he is serious about changing the testing system, he will not receive co-operation from the public. The public thinks it is a laugh that we tolerate such an incredibly inefficient system which would not be tolerated in any banana republic. I support the amendment.

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