Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

The importance of the driving licence issue cannot be overstated, in particular for workers in rural areas. For example, in County Laois, many workers have to get to work in Portlaoise, Mountmellick, Portarlington or Graiguecullen and they are travelling from outlying areas such as the Swan, Ballinakill, Errill, Rathdowney and other areas where there is no public transport early in the morning, or any area in the Slieve Bloom mountains, such as Camross, Clonaslee and places like that.

It is important that we fix this. Public transport will never cover all townlands, and I accept that. We are trying to link up the villages and great progress has been made on this with Local Link, but often a village is five miles away and people need a car to get there. People also need a driver's licence for their employment. Take, for example, home help as typical. People in construction and delivery drivers all need a clean driver licence.

There has been a big crackdown on driving with a provisional licence and the Garda is very active on it. We accept this needs to happen. People cannot be on a provisional licence forever. There is also the fact that a lot of young drivers pay sky-high insurance because they cannot get a driver test, or a second or third driver test to get over the line to get a full driver's licence. We need to deal with this.

It is very important that we improve and shorten testing times. This has gone on for years. I and other Deputies have raised this many times over several years with various Ministers but it has got worse. The figures for those waiting for a test, and the length of time they are waiting, are absolutely shocking. The average estimated wait time is 27 weeks, as the Minister of State confirmed. For an invitation, which does not guarantee a test, the wait time is six months in Birr in Offaly and more than six months in Portlaoise. There could be an additional six, seven, eight or nine weeks before people actually get the test. I have the figures that show this. I tried it myself on the website to see what would happen and it confirmed that it takes more than seven months to get an invitation. The numbers waiting for a test are shocking. There are 1,092 people waiting in Portlaoise and only 216 of these are scheduled for a test. The statutory maximum time is not being met and that is a breach of the service level agreement.

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