Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

We have asked the RSA to consider the provision of closed driver training grounds and it is doing so. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, and I will have the opportunity to discuss this with the chief executive and the board in the near future. Regarding the request for a structural transition from the provisional licences to learner permits and restricted category drivers, the Deputy will also be aware that the 2006 Act makes provision for driver training and instruction.

The Members opposite will be aware that one can establish a driver instruction school without any qualification. We want to regularise this and can do so through the 2006 Act. The Deputy will recall that the consultation document on the registration of instructors was launched last May. Many submissions were received by 8 September and these are currently being considered by the RSA.

In this document, it is suggested that, from 1 July 2007, all new entrants into the industry as driver instructors must be approved and registered to operate as driving instructors and the RSA will set down clear criteria to which they will have to adhere. This will protect the drivers by ensuring the ability of the instructors. They will have to be fit persons, be tax compliant and record the details. There will be annual inspections, some announced and others unannounced. The RSA will be in a position to respond or to remove them from the register. That would commence in July 2007. We must take cognisance of the fact that many existing instructors do good work, but they will have to comply by July 2008.

We are proactive. While we might have different views and express them inside and outside the House, we are all anxious to reduce the level of fatalities and injuries on our roads. When there are multiple fatalities as we had in Monaghan recently and in Buncrana in February of this year, it focuses us more on the issue. If we can introduce all this legislation, all the necessary——

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