Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the moment there are 47,000 L-plate drivers awaiting a driver test and there is a huge delay, as we all know, at the Road Safety Authority, RSA. The wait is 19 weeks on average nationally, but in County Clare there is a 35-week waiting period. That is all the more punitive for younger drivers in rural areas. Because of the cost of living away from home and the lack of accommodation, many of them live at home and drive a car their mam and dad bought them to get to college. This is totally punitive. One of the requirements for these 47,000 drivers is that they have an accompanying driver. I ask that the Government look at waiving that rule temporarily for the next few months, until we catch up and close in on that gap. Also, given the national car test, NCT, delays, it is important for somebody to clarify for the people of this country whether they are properly insured if they do not have a valid NCT. If your test is delayed by three or four months, why does the rollover period for your next test not account for those three or four months such that the next test catches up six or seven months later again? It is wrong and it is punitive.

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