Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me some speaking time on this. I fully support what my colleague has said. The wait time is extremely punitive in counties in the west such as Clare. Many of the people affected are youngsters whose parents bought them a car so they could commute to college and work. A lot of them cannot find accommodation and now they find themselves criminalised in a way because they cannot drive solo with learner plates as they need to be accompanied.

We want testers on permanent contracts. I will make two suggestions and I ask the Minister of State to respond to them. First, perhaps we should put our driving testers, who are highly qualified, on temporary secondment. An instructor could be temporarily appointed to take on this role in each large urban centre where there is a driving school. My second suggestion is probably more controversial but it would make a huge difference to the young people of Ireland. I suggest the requirement for a learner driver to be accompanied by a qualified driver be suspended for a few months, just until we get over this hump.

They are deemed after 12 lessons to be able to go out on the road, sit a test and drive independently. How can an accompanying driver suddenly grab the wheel and take control of a car? It does not make any logical sense.

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