Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These protocols were put in place to minimise the likelihood of the transmission of Covid-19 within the centres and to minimise the throughput of people in them. People doing the driving test must be brought to the centres by an accompanying driver because they are learners who have not yet passed the test. Those accompanying drivers may be parents. I am not detracting from what Deputy Barry said but the context in which these protocols were put in place was to try to keep everybody safe. I hear the Deputy's concerns. This is an operational matter for the RSA, which has sought the best medical advice for putting in place these protocols. I will engage with it to see if anything else can be done to keep everybody safe and ensure we suppress this virus. That is the reasoning behind all of these protocols. It is not a perfect situation. We are in an unprecedented global pandemic and we are all trying to grapple with it to keep everyone as safe as possible, while working with everyone.

See this speech in context