Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach agus le Sinn Féin as an rún seo. Earlier today, I went onto the RSA website and input the location for my nearest test centre at Charlestown in Dublin. If I applied for my driving test today, I would be able to sit it in the week beginning 4 August. That is 23 weeks away. I did not clog up the system because I did my test in 1994. Many contributors have said that this is the worst it has ever been. I remember stories from when I was growing up. We always slagged my mother because she was one of a group of people in the 1960s who did not have to sit the test. They got the licence for free. We made a joke of the fact that she was not a great driver, but it is not a laughing matter. We do not want to have people on the roads who are not taking tests or driving in a suitable way. I know that now, but at the time I was a child and it was incredibly funny. In the 1970s, another backlog was cleared. Now, there are many thousands of people waiting.

Everybody who has spoken has been contacted by constituents. I was contacted by constituents in Dublin South Central who say that the waiting times are unacceptable. People are waiting to go to college, to work and go about their daily business. It is very expensive to take driving lessons and to be insured on a car, if a person has one. It is sometimes difficult to get time to practice driving. To then be obliged to wait a long time is prohibitive for many people.

Public transport is so important, particularly in light of people's reliance on it. There is a lot of waiting about for buses. A group in Inchicore-Bluebell called Connecting Communities is fighting to keep the area's bus service. It connects people. The group carried out a survey which showed that 63% of the people who responded do not own cars. There is huge reliance on public transport. They are engaged in a fight in respect of the 58 bus route, which is going to replace three other routes. Buses on this route will only run once per hour and will not bring passengers to Thomas Street, a famous street in Dublin 8 to which people travel for many social activities, markets, religious services and medical appointments. I have been working with Joan Collins, a former TD for the area, and members of the community to try to ensure that we have a meeting with the NTA. We have not heard back from the NTA yet. We look forward to hearing from it.

Not everybody drives, but if people do drive it is really important that they are not waiting for weeks on end for things to happen. I am happy that the Government is going to support this motion. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing it forward.

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