Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I am glad that logic has eventually prevailed and these new contentious proposals affecting provisional licence holders will not come into force until much later. However it is unclear whether the Government will live up to its promise and reduce dramatically driving test waiting times. The ill-thought out and rash plan of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, showed how out of touch he is with the daily lives of thousands of drivers who hold provisional licences. His introduction almost overnight of a crackdown on holders of provisional licences driving unaccompanied by a driver with two years experience on a full licence sent thousands of drivers into a panic. While previous speakers have dealt with this point adequately, my constituency office and mobile telephone were hopping for large portions of Friday and the weekend. I imagine the Leas-Cheann Comhairle had the same experience.

It is due in large part to the failed transport policies of successive Governments that a large proportion of the population relies on the private car to take children to school, travel to work or go shopping. The lack of public transport, both buses and rail, as well as a system that is not integrated does not provide a significant number of people with any viable alternative. Many provisional licence holders have no option but to drive alone and unsupervised due to inadequate public transport or a backlog lasting months or longer before sitting their driving tests, or both.

The Minister's new proposals would have created havoc in people's lives by criminalising them for their necessary daily commutes without providing sufficient time to apply for and sit their driving tests. More than 120,000 drivers hold second provisional licences, and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, has shown contempt for them all. The Minister's humiliating U-turn seems to be just another in a string of farcical events at the Department of Transport. I refer to the exposure last week of officials and their so-called breakdown in communication regarding the Shannon debacle.

When the Minister announced these new proposals, Sinn Féin's spokesperson on transport and road safety, Senator Pearse Doherty, stated immediately that the new measures were harsh, particularly when waiting times for driving tests were taken into account. The onus is now on the Government to resolve the issue of long driving test waiting times. This situation has not occurred overnight but has been simmering for years. For example, retired driving instructors were not replaced. Fianna Fáil has presided for years over a system whereby a person could drive to a test centre, perform his or her driving test, fail miserably and drive back home. This is ludicrous.

On a positive note I commend some of the actions contained in the new road safety strategy that mirror Sinn Féin's proposals in its all-Ireland road safety policy document, from the introduction of a graduated licensing system to the introduction of a comprehensive road safety education programme in schools. However, some progressive proposals still are not being implemented. According to the Road Safety Authority, the new stipulation that a first-time permit holder must have held the permit for six months before he or she can take a test will allow drivers to gain some experience. However, it is feasible that drivers could get their permit and leave their cars parked outside their houses for a six-month period without driving them. My party has proposed the introduction of an island-wide requirement for learner drivers to carry out 120 supervised hours in various conditions, such as on motorways, in busy traffic, on rural roads, on varying surfaces and in different light and weather conditions. This would ensure that drivers gain vital experience.

Sorting out the driving licence mess is just one step towards improving road safety. The Government must also invest significantly to update and improve the condition of the roads and eradicate accident black spots. It must try to end the culture of speeding through increased traffic patrols at such spots and the strategic use of speed cameras. It must also try to end the culture of impaired driving with the introduction of a zero alcohol and drug limit and the provision of more public transport, especially in rural areas. In addition, the Government must provide for pedestrians and cyclists by improving footpaths and increasing the quality and quantity of cycle lanes. It should increase the uptake of optional safety features by exempting safety elements in cars from VRT, reducing motorcycle safety equipment to the lowest possible level of VAT and reducing other related car safety equipment, such as car seats, or bicycle safety equipment to the lowest possible level of VAT.

Road safety policy is crucial as it saves lives. However, I question the Minister's commitment to oversee such policy. Many options are available for safety control measures such as, for example, speed control devices that could be attached to cars. Such a system has been described to me. It operates with a credit card-type device that could be set at a local centre to limit the speed of the vehicle in question to the designated speed of 50 km/h, 80 km/h or whatever. An opportunity exists at present to begin to think outside the box and be creative and innovative. This would probably require a complete review of the entire system. However, there is no reason not to have such a complete overhaul of the system at this juncture. We are not obliged always to follow the British model. I do not make this point with a chip on my shoulder or in an anti-British way. I do not suggest all their systems are filled with gobshites but we must create our own space in this regard.

I do not know the percentage of those who are queuing for driving tests who have been put in that position because their licence has lapsed. Many Members will be aware that one's driving licence invariably sits in one's wallet and if one has a ten-year licence, it is easy to forget to renew it. I only take my licence out when I have been stopped at a checkpoint, which is rare. I no longer need it for access to public places of entertainment to demonstrate that I am over 18 years of age. In such circumstances, it is easy to forget that one's licence has expired. I understand that one is obliged to re-sit one's test after a six-month period. An automatic reminder should be put in place. This is an information technology issue involving the issuing of an automatic reminder, perhaps three months before the date of expiry, to the licence holder to advise him or her of the situation. This would reduce the numbers of those who await driving tests to some degree.

The Minister made what was probably his only valid point in his comments last week when he noted that the issues in question literally are matters of life and death. I accept this crucial point made by the Minister. The Minister's preferred destination must be reached as rapidly as possible and other colleagues have already noted that all Opposition Members will support him in this regard. However, the effort to do so almost overnight was an enormous mistake. Hopefully lessons can be learned and I hope, for everyone's sake, the proposed driving test waiting period target figures can be achieved.

Recently, I have detected something of a refusal culture among some driving testers. I do not wish to be unfair because everyone who takes a driving test is naturally highly nervous, anxious and in a fraught state on his or her arrival at the centre in the first place. Just last week there was a case in the Dundalk centre in which a person arrived to be tested for a PSV licence in a minibus. The tester would not accept the person for testing because there was no tachograph installed in the vehicle. The minibus could have been an exempted vehicle under the requirements for tachograph provision, but no account was taken of this. There was no questioning to establish whether it was in fact an exempted vehicle. The tester merely said "No tachograph — no test. Go home." The person had to leave. There was a job at stake in that case and other issues were involved. Driving test centres need to be examined to ensure that a culture such as this does not prevail and that some allowance is made for the anxious state in which people arrive.

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