Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

While I must double-check the position on the Deputy's last question, it is standard practice in most public service contracts of this nature to have such a break clause in the case of failure by a party to uphold its side of the contract. In respect of the first year of the contract, the performance of the company was assessed over the course of the year. This has changed and from this year onwards, performance will be assessed on a quarterly basis. In so doing, the Road Safety Authority will be assisted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and AA Ireland. In 2010 the overall satisfaction rating was at 84%, which constituted a slight fall on the 88% figure recorded in the previous year. However, the number of complaints is very low - fewer than 0.1% complained about their test. Moreover, of the 21 appeals lodged, 17 were rejected, while only four were upheld.

See this speech in context