Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

Everyone accepts there must be a requirement for people to sit the test. I sympathise with the amendment but I have difficulty with the words "failed to take reasonable steps". Deputy Shortall might expand on that. My experience is the opposite in terms of the people with whom I deal. Many young people want to take the test but cannot because of the backlog. As a public representative those are the cases I hear about.

The 23,000 cancellations every year is a substantial number and I do not understand how they can be justified. I would understand if people were not in the country when called to do the test, but 23,000 appears to be a very high figure. I am concerned that if we insert the words "failed to take reasonable steps" in the Bill, there would be increased bureaucracy at local authority level over what is a reasonable step. In other words, it may create a form of bureaucracy that will be difficult to resolve. Some sort of guarantee should be given that people will get the opportunity to sit the test in the period of their licence. That is not unreasonable. As I said, my experience is that people want to sit the test.

I spoke previously about the fact that some Members who are spokespersons did a mock test for one of the radio stations and we all failed. During the test I experienced the palpitations and so on that I felt when doing the original test. That was a wake-up call for me in terms of upskilling and not taking it for granted that I can sit even a mock test without first doing a pre-test course. That is my difficulty with the amendment and I would like Deputy Shortall to explain what "failed to take reasonable steps" means. My experience as a public representative is of young people contacting me to ask if I can do anything to get an earlier date for the test because they need it for a specific job and so on.

Another problem, and I raised it with the Minister, is the difficulty experienced by many young people along Border areas to get employment and so on. I have asked the Minister to examine the possibility of facilitating people sitting tests, especially those in areas of high unemployment, who have no alternative in terms of public transport. We must provide facilities to help such young people, and possibly older people, living in those areas.

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