Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Is the Minister of State going to accept or reject the motion which myself and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group are bringing before him today on behalf of 71,500 people throughout the country? I am here to talk about the young people, for instance, in County Kerry who are coming to me in their droves at clinics and asking what are we going to do, how are they going to go to college and how will they go to work. They are trying to make a living, perhaps a part-time living, and are trying to better themselves. The one thing they need is a full driver's licence. Many of their job opportunities are being eroded and taken from them because they cannot get a driving test.

I am sorry to see the Minister of State - if I could manage to capture his attention - and his party have abandoned County Kerry. They have no interest in the world in County Kerry both nationally or locally in politics. We saw that when the Tánaiste, Deputy Martin, went to north Kerry and made promises before the last general election that he was going to support a liquefied natural gas, LNG, facility and then he turned around, the minute the election was over, and did a U-turn and abandoned north Kerry, south Kerry, east Kerry, mid-Kerry, and every part of Kerry. He does not care about it and neither does the Minister of State or his colleagues. Kerry does not exist and the Government has given up on it now at this stage.

I am looking for answers on behalf of the young people who are continuously saying that they want to be able to pass a driving test and to be called. The average waiting time at the moment is over 40 to 45 weeks in Tralee and Killarney. That is a ridiculous length of time to say to a young person that she or he must put their lives on hold for this test. I believe, and I have been saying this for many, many years, that in our school system, when one goes to secondary school that one should be taught the theory side of safety and courtesy on our roads in the first number of years, and then in transition and leaving cert year the young person should be trained and educated, that it should be part of the curriculum. The Taoiseach, thankfully, agreed yesterday when I spoke on this matter in this House that, yes, it should be on the curriculum. Young people should leave school with their leaving certificate in one hand and their full driver's licence in the other hand. That would then equip them for the world.

Deputy Eamon Ryan, the Minister for roads and transportation who does not like roads and transportation or building roads, would not want to see young people aspiring to driving a car but I live in the real world and represent real people. They tell me that, yes, they will be driving cars. Deputy Ryan may not like it and perhaps the Minister of State does not like it, seeing as the Government is so consumed with the whole green agenda and is so brainwashed, whitewashed, black washed and everything else at this moment in time-----

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