Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

There are 83,000 people waiting for driving tests. The number is up by 10,000 since the start of the year and 20,000 over the past six months. The average waiting time is more than 27 weeks, as the Minister of State indicated, which is way over the statutory maximum of ten. In April of last year, the Fianna Fáil Minister committed to significant progress being made between October and the end of the year. He claimed we would get back to the ten-week waiting time early this year. Like many other promises made in the run-up to the election, however, that commitment was not kept. Matters have got far worse since we asked the Government to take action. In February, we tabled a motion that contained a suite of measures to tackle the huge backlog, including matching resources - as the Minister of State said, there is currently a mismatch - expediting the recruitment of driving test instructors, the number of testers has since declined, and plugging the gaps in a number of driving test centres. Predictably, our proposals were ignored.

The Government says there is a problem. It promises to fix it, but then it is business as usual. Many of the now Government-supporting TDs in the Regional Independent Group were highly critical of these delays when in opposition. They made it clear that they believed it was within the Government's gift to resolve the issues of resourcing with political will and ambition. Now that they are in government and standing with the Government, supporting it on good days and bad, they are all trying to wash their hands of the issue.

There are many frustrating delays, but it is not just that. Learner drivers are trapped in insurance contracts, the average cost of which is approximately €3,000 per year. There are other cost-of-living measures, including how motorists here are paying some of the highest prices for motor fuel in the EU. This morning, we learned that drivers in the South are paying 25% more than their counterparts in the North. This is in part due to punitive measures like the carbon tax, which punishes ordinary people when they have literally no alternative. How is this a just transition? With each passing day, it becomes increasingly clear that this Government is out of touch.

I cannot let the opportunity of speaking about the TV footage of what is happening in Gaza and the deliberate famine being imposed on the people pass. I am reminded of the speech Parnell gave in Ennis, County Clare, when he stated that when a man takes land from which another has been evicted, "you must shun him in the street when you meet him ... isolating him from the rest of the country, as if he were a leper of old - you must show him your detestation of the crime he committed."

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