Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It beggars belief that at a point when we have so many serious road accidents, we have not addressed the RSA. We need to reprimand it. The Minister stated previous to the Minister of State that representatives from the RSA had appeared before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. I endorse Deputy Nolan's request that they be brought back before the committee. We are discussing driver testing but we should be discussing all the road safety issues and all the deaths that are occurring on the road, which have increased, as a matter of fact, since the RSA was formed, and dramatically at that. It has a CEO, Mr. Sam Waide, who seems to be elusive.

I tabled a parliamentary question one month ago that was referred to the RSA and I have not received an answer to it yet. It refers to a young man who is looking for a scribe to complete his certificate of professional competence, CPC, case studies for a rigid truck. At a time we are at full employment, every effort should be made to assist. While a scribe was available to him for his theory test, one is not available to him when he has to provide written case studies. That really does not make any sense. I ask that this be addressed rapidly in order that this young man can move on with his career before he emigrates like so many others. I concur with all the Deputies who said our housing crisis as well as the fact people cannot get a driving licence are contributing to emigration. I would like to see it halted as soon as possible.

The other day, I did a radio interview with the former Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross. The discussion was about how we had a very serious issue with the policing of our roads with regard to drunk-driving, speeding and drug-driving, and that speeding was primarily the cause of so many accidents. I did not agree entirely. While speeding is certainly a factor, it is only one factor because there are many issues, one of which is the fact that drivers are not being tested in a timely fashion. Ten weeks is the target. It is actually taking 30 weeks, according to the Minister. In County Wexford, however, the waiting time is 32 weeks. That is just unacceptable.

In addition, there is so much regulation overseen by the National Parks and Wildlife Service regarding how hedgerows are maintained, particularly on the roadside. It is just unacceptable. Each county council should take it into its own hands. Where hedges need cutting on the roadside, they should be cut. There are no birds nesting on the roadside. There are 6,000 km of hedgerow all over the country. We should at least make sure we make provision for road safety when it comes to our hedgerows.

Equally, I refer to road surfacing, which was mentioned by another colleague. Our roads are not being maintained to a standard. We have a serious issue now with water on roads in every part of the country, but particularly in rural Ireland. There was a time when a county council worker went around on a Honda 50 with a shovel in his hand cleaning out drains, and he did the country a great service. Unfortunately, we do not seem to have either the workforce or people are no longer instructed to do this job. The weather for the whole year has been atrocious. We can see it and it is evident as a contributory factor to many of the road accidents we have had. I ask that we do everything possible to remedy this. We can do better. I hate to hear Departments and Government colleagues outline what the information is because often the information is very different from the situation. I ask Government colleagues to clarify that when they get information, it actually fits the situation.

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