Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Comhghairdeas leat as do phost nua, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I want to reiterate what has been said in the Chamber. Many people, especially young people, are waiting ridiculously long periods of time to access a driver test. In Galway, for example, the waiting list is over 3,000. That is 3,000 people who are waiting to get a driver test so that they can commute for work. A considerable issue I have encountered is that of commuting for housing. People are now waiting for more than seven months even through we are told it should be a ten-week period. As the Minister of State knows, there are no HAP properties available in Galway city within the scheme's limits, which means that many people have to move out to more rural areas to access housing. I met a homeless woman this week who had been waiting six months to get a driver test, which would enable her to go further out to try to access housing.

There are young people who are studying and who need a car to commute who are waiting on their driving test. One woman contacted me today to say she was supposed to have it in February. It was pushed back to March and she expects it to be pushed back even further while at the same time she is not able to commute by herself to university or to access third level education easily because, as we know, in the west of Ireland there are huge issues with access to public transport. At the same time, she is having to pay extra for insurance.

Another man told me he was waiting for three months. He noticed he had not heard anything back with regard to his driving test and then he discovered it had absolutely no record of him ever applying for a driving test. That was only the first in a litany of issues he had accessing that driving test. We hear an awful lot from Government that it will sort it out. It is high time it is sorted out and let this motion be a first step to doing so.

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