Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, the Minister of State indicated that some driving instructors are opposed to this. There are 2,000 driving instructors in the State. I am not in a position to say that every single one of them is opposed to this, but I am aware that the broad mass of those 2,000 driving instructors oppose what is going on here. It is not just some driving instructors - the Minister of State gives the impression that it might be three or four - but the broad mass of the 2,000 driving instructors. Many of them were forced to stand in lashing rain yesterday sheltering under umbrellas while waiting for the test drivers to come back to the centre. I challenge the idea that health and safety is being protected here. Health and safety is being endangered. The broad mass of the 2,000 driving instructors cannot access the centres to use toilet facilities or wash their hands. If the concern is with Covid safety, why are instructors still having to pass log books back and forth with test drivers, instead of doing it online? Let us put health and safety first but that means letting instructors into the centres and ending the lockout.

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