Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I recognise the bona fides of the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in this regard. I have no doubt that he has been in contact with the Road Safety Authority, that he is concerned and that he is receiving information similar to this from his constituents and people around the country, but I disagree vehemently with his acceptance that, in general terms, as the Minister of State put it, he is satisfied that the RSA has taken the appropriate actions to address the problem. I am not critical of the RSA. It does a fine job, particularly in regard to road safety, but it has been caught on the hop to some extent on this issue. It did not expect the number of problems that have arisen. Clearly, it is training staff on the go, but that process should have been up and running in some parallel way for some time to ensure the staff would build the competencies needed and that we would not see a backlog developing.

I am not happy that the RSA has done enough to solve this problem which was identified in early November. We are coming towards the end of February and still do not have the level of turnaround needed. If we are down to a ten day turnaround by the end of this month, that will be a phenomenal improvement and, by and large, acceptable. If it can be brought down to a five to eight day turnaround by the end of March, it will be a good result, but from what I am hearing from people generally, that is not the experience. I hope the matter can be addressed, but we need much faster action from the RSA; a two week pilot study is not enough. The process is not moving quickly enough when we consider the negative impact the lack of a replacement licence is having on the lives of so many. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and addressing the issue in the way he has done.

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