Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will answer it again. I share the Deputy's sympathy for the people who cannot do their driving test at the moment. What he is saying is right but he is not providing a solution for me. The reason people are not doing their driving tests is a very good one. It is that to do so would be a danger to their health and the health of the people testing them. I will take the advice of NPHET on that particular issue. If at any stage it advises it is all right for driving testing to go ahead, I will obviously accept that advice and I will go to Cabinet and say I think that should happen. However, at the moment that is not on the early-opening list because people have to sit very closely beside each other for a very long period. It is a very unfortunate situation.

An alternative is often suggested by people taking the Deputy's point of view. As the Deputy does, I get many complaints about this every day. The alternative is obviously to let people out on the road without having taken their driving test, which is not acceptable. That is a safety issue and it would be absolutely unacceptable. I know some people say this should happen. It would be totally unacceptable to allow people who are not qualified to drive to go out on the road, do dangerous things and kill people. The answer to that is that I will keep this in mind. I will keep asking about it, but the advice is very strongly that it is not a priority.

I will not be the Minister when the sports capital grants are allocated. I will not be able to do anything for the Deputy. However, I will make a strong recommendation. I will leave a note on my desk for my successor to contact Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, saying when it comes to sports capital grants, he is the man who knows how to manage them.

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