Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will be sharing time with my two colleagues. I thank Deputy Daly and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very important motion, which will have an impact on many lives, particularly those of young people.

We often make things particularly difficult for young people. This is one instance of our doing so. I acknowledge that both Ministers are new to their roles and that the Government is not going to oppose the motion. However, we need to see action because while the Minister of State is new to the role, his party has held the position he now holds for a number of years.

In March 2024, the Department of Transport promised that the waiting times would be down to the ten-week maximum allowable under the service level agreement with the RSA. This was repeated in April by the Minister, Deputy Chambers, but clearly that did not happen. In September, the Government promised that the sanctioning of an additional 70 permanent posts would solve the problem and that the ten-week limit would be in as soon as possible. I welcome the 70 posts and that they were permanent which was really important. However, at this stage the Minister needs to call the RSA in to ask it what has happened to those 70 posts sanctioned at the start of September. My understanding is that the recruitment process closed in October, but the relevant staff are still not in place. I was told today by the RSA that the first tranche of those recruited will begin training in March. Therefore, it will still be many more months before they are in place and can start working to bring that waiting time down. I was also told that they will be prioritising Dublin and Cork in the first tranche. The places that need to be prioritised are those that need the testers and that have the largest waiting lists. That is not just Dublin and Cork. I will return to this matter later.

It is really important that the Minister of State bring the RSA in and get it to answer questions as to how it can take so long for it to undertake a recruitment process and get people trained into these roles. The waiting lists are not acceptable and there has been no improvement. When the 70 positions were sanctioned in September, there were 155 testers across the country. Currently, there are 151. This means that the number has dropped. That can also be seen in the waiting lists which have gone up by 10,000 people in those same months. The waiting time has gone from an average of 18 weeks to 22 weeks, so things are going backwards. The 70 positions that were sanctioned have not made any difference as of yet.

I want to specifically talk about my county of Wicklow. While the country averages 22 weeks, in Wicklow it is 26, which is incredibly high. It is an awfully long time to expect people to wait for their driving test. I went digging for information on this and the CSO website is a font of information when it comes to the waiting lists. There are 999 people in Wicklow who are waiting for driving tests and there is, according to the website, one tester in the county. There are about three or four counties that have one tester and Wicklow is one of them. When we compare that with five testers in Wexford, we can see why there is a 26-week waiting list.

It is clear that there are major problems particularly in some centres. When the RSA is putting the first tranche of recruited testers in place, it should focus on counties such as Wicklow that only have one tester. Clearly if that person gets sick or takes leave, it shuts the whole system down. That one tester - or even if there are two or three testers in a centre - must be under enormous stress knowing they are responsible for doing the test for every person coming into that test centre.

I do not believe it is healthy or good for those workers to be put in that position. Will the Minister of State look at that?

It is important to have sanctions and accountability in respect of the RSA, particularly as there have been problems for years. Solutions were provided but they have not worked. The RSA needs to face some level of accountability. While it is not a statutory ten-week limit, there is a service level agreement. If, in contractual terms, the RSA does not meet that service agreement with the Department, what is the penalty? Is there any penalty? If possible, will the Minister of State provide a response in this regard?

In regard to the NCT, there are problems with waiting lists. If the company involved does not meet the relevant timeframe requirement, it should provide tests for free.

If there was such a financial penalty for the RSA, we would see it focus and make sure it had enough staff to conduct essential work. Will the Minister of State look at the possibility whereby if the ten- or 12-week waiting time is exceeded and the RSA does not provide an applicant with a driving test, that applicant should be allowed to sit the test free of charge? That would make the RSA put in place a system that is workable and that meets the needs of communities across the country.

See this speech in context