Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim mo bhuíochas le Sinn Féin as an rún seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach agus go raibh míle maith acu go bhfuil an deis tugtha dúinn páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht.

On the previous occasion, I wished the Minister of State the best. On this occasion, I note that he and the Minister are not amending the motion. That is good. He might confirm whether the motion, which is quite basic, is going to be implemented. Very little is being requested. It is the most practical motion I have seen. It calls on the Government to acknowledge its responsibility to ensure that when demand for public services increase, this must be matched by additional resources to meet demand, instruct the Minister for Transport to take immediate action, end the over-reliance on hiring temporary driving test instructors – a temporary over-reliance that affects possibly every public service - conduct an urgent review of the capacity of the RSA and address the shortfall in driving test centres across the country. It is welcome that the motion is not being amended. Perhaps the Minister of State will confirm whether it is going to be implemented and the timeframe within which this will be done.

Various figures were referred to by previous speakers, including that 72,414 people have been waiting longer than necessary. They are in limbo. I echo Deputy Farrelly’s comments. I wish we were talking about an integrated public transport system. We have failed utterly to create such a system in as many places as we should, so we push people to drive. Obviously, they need to sit driving tests, and then this is what happens.

There is very little I can say about the motion, so I am going to use this opportunity to refer to two matters. The second is a local matter. John Connolly, recently elected on behalf of Fianna Fáil, raised the issue in question, and I thank him for that. I refer to the temporary moving of a driving test centre in Galway city out to Knocknacarra because of development commitments. There is no certainty that it will come back. Unusually, as I understand it, the city and county councillors are of one view, namely that the driving test centre needs to be in the area where it was previously. Different sites were looked at and were not deemed acceptable, such as a business park that seemed unable to accommodate the centre because it was outside of what was allowed, and so on. We need a guarantee from the authority that this centre that is temporarily with a "how long is a piece of string" period of 12 to 18 months or longer until it comes back.

That just would not be acceptable for Galway.

Tá gá le ceadúnas tiomána a bheith ag tiománaithe, ach chomh maith leis sin, tá gá go mbeidh daoine sábháilte ar an mbóthar i mbailte agus in áiteanna a bhfuil daoine ina gcónaí iontu. Is cuid den tsábháilteacht é go mbeadh na tiománaithe in ann tiomáint agus ceadúnas a bheith acu. Tá taobh eile den scéal, agus sin é go bhfuil freagracht ar na córais áitiúla scéimeanna a chur ar siúl. Táim ag smaoineamh ar Bhearna agus ar an Spidéal i gContae na Gaillimhe. Tá easpa áiseanna chun a chinntiú go bhfuil daoine in ann an bóthar a thrasnú. Níl rud chomh bunúsach le bóthar a thrasnú sábháilte sna bailte sin agus i mbailte beaga eile ar fud an chontae. Fad is atá fadhbanna á gcruthú againn anseo ó thaobh liosta fada, ag an am céanna tá fadhbanna eile maidir le cúrsaí sábháilteachta agus easpa acmhainní ag dul i dtreo na gcóras áitiúil chun na scéimeanna cuí agus na scéimeanna tábhachtacha a chur ar fáil. Cúpla lá ó shin, bhí cruinniú agam i m'oifig maidir leis an ábhar seo agus an easpa airgid - airgead suarach i ndáiríre - chun na bailte a dhéanamh níos sábháilte.

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