Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy and I are on the same side. I think she was in favour of the amendment to the Road Traffic Act that actually tackled the issue of unaccompanied drivers. I think she was in favour of that, as am I. This is certainly one of the unintended consequences but we accept that it is better than having unaccompanied drivers on the road. We are taking the appropriate measures, as the Deputy can see.

I have set out the initiatives that I hope are a very proactive effort to bring the numbers down. I understand why the Deputy does it but I think it is probably a bit unhelpful for her to always point out the worst cases. The average is 13. Yes, there are some areas where it is longer than 13 weeks but there are other areas where it is shorter than 13 weeks, which the Deputy did not point out. This is why the average comes to 13. It is something we are addressing aggressively. As the Deputy will understand, the number of no-shows is large. These are people who do not turn up for their driving test because their applications count in a way that is advantageous to them.

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