Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I find it a little curious that a person who can figure out how to drive a car cannot figure out how to operate the volume button on their phone when playing Snake or whatever it is they are doing.

To the matter at hand, the situation with driving test waiting times has become unacceptable. Indeed, it is beyond unacceptable. The backlog is causing people not to be able to take up new jobs and it is impacting students driving to college or to apprenticeships. It is costing young people their apprenticeships and it is hurting workers and families. The average waiting time for a driving test is 30 weeks across the State. If a driver in my constituency, Dublin Fingal, were to book a test, he or she would be left waiting until April to be called for Finglas and until March to be called for Dundalk. A six- or seven-month wait to sit a driving test for a driver who has already spent a significant amount of time undertaking all the necessary lessons is really unacceptable. There are young people and workers in north County Dublin who have had to wait over a year. Every aspect of driving is now impacted by the delays. There are waiting lists for theory tests, driving tests and the national car test. It is a mockery at this stage. These delays are having an impact on the economy, especially the haulage and transport sector. Businesses contact me weekly regarding the delays facing fully qualified heavy goods vehicle, HGV, drivers from outside the State, especially South African ones, who are experiencing difficulties in obtaining an appointment with the National Driver Licence Service to get HGV driving licence. The process is that these drivers need to get personal public service, PPS, numbers, complete certificate of professional competence courses, exchange their existing licences for EU licences and then get digital tachograph cards to be able to drive a truck. They are waiting three months to get the licence from the NDLS. They need their licence to get the tachograph card. Without these, they simply cannot work. Drivers who arrive here with approval to work and who are very much needed to do the work are going home because they are left waiting so long for the relevant driving licence. I am asking the Minister of State for his help in this matter, first in respect of the RSA and second through more protection for employers in these circumstances. I urge the Minister of State to look into this specific issue and do all he can to speed up the process. It is seriously impacting transport and the haulage sector. I spoke to a haulier recently who has had two drivers who went back to South Africa.

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