Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle and Jill Gray in his office for facilitating this Topical Issue debate. We have been raising this matter with the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and everyone else. The dogs in the street are aghast about it. Why is there such inertia in the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and the Department of Transport in dealing with this issue? A lady in my constituency has had her driver theory test rescheduled seven times since last October. Just this morning she received an email from the RSA to say that her test scheduled for 14 May, when the country will be reopened at level 3, has been cancelled already. It spends more time cancelling tests now than focusing on getting people driving. Farmers, agricultural contractors and all businesses need these young drivers to be on the road to help them. Many people who want to go to work, such as trainee nurses going on work placement or work experience, cannot go anywhere without a car.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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There are people all over west Cork trying to get theory tests and driving tests. The whole system seems to be blocked up and flawed. One lady told me she had her 12 lessons done but the system would not allow her to register them, which meant she could not book her test. This is mainly about young people's lives. Priority must be given to getting a more efficient system going. We blame Covid for all the wrongs but this has been a problem well before Covid. The test booking system is a shambles. In one example, two people from the same household tried booking a test at the same time. One was offered several available options in a particular time period and the other was not offered anything in the same timeframe. There are situations where logged lessons do not show up on the logbook portal, which means people will not get a test as the system states they have not completed their training. West Cork has a lot of young people looking to get their driving tests. We have a great driving test centre in Skibbereen but maybe somewhere like Bantry, Bandon, Clonakilty or Kinsale could be considered as a second centre to ease the pressure.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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In my constituency of Limerick, theory tests could have continued the whole way through the pandemic because they are done on a portal system. It would have been very easy. Other businesses kept going. This was a very easy system that could have been kept going to get the theory test out of the way so people could get their licences. It is so important to get the theory test done so people can apply for a licence because that gets them on the system for the insurance companies down the line. That is the main thing. People who have no transport and who want to go to college and get part-time work have been held up for nine and ten months over theory tests being put off all the time. A theory test is done on a computer screen. People sit in front of it and answer questions. Other businesses were able to continue. Why were the theory tests not able to?

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this very important debate. Prior to the pandemic, we had an issue with the waiting times for driving tests and theory tests. It is an issue I have highlighted time and again, as have my colleagues. Now the waiting list and the backlog of people who are eligible to take the test and want to take it is out of control. The Department of Transport and the RSA have failed young people time and again. The previous Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, and the hierarchy of the RSA were more interested in criminalising young people than educating them. In the past, proposals were put forward to the Department to overhaul the way we educate our young people on the rules of the road and assist them in obtaining a driving licence. Again, this was thrown to the side because commonsense suggestions get nowhere these days, unfortunately.

The current waiting list for driving tests is at a crisis point and needs to be tackled once and for all. Back in 2007 and 2008 SGS Ireland was brought in to reduce the waiting lists and this worked very well. Something like this will have to be done again in the immediate short term to ease the pressure on driving testers, of which we simply do not have enough. I could go on and on. In the past, very sensible and constructive proposals were put forward to deal with the driving tests, to both the Department of Transport and the RSA, and each time they fell on deaf ears. I am sorry to say this but I have no doubt that history will repeat itself and it will fall on deaf ears again.

I want to say to the people who contacted me as late as in the last ten minutes on my mobile phone, that the Rural Independent Group, led by Deputy Mattie McGrath, are here today asking the Minister of State please to do something for them. One young girl has had her theory test put back six times. Would the Minister of State like to be dealing with that person? Another person who spoke to Deputy Mattie McGrath had their test put back ten times. It is outrageous.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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It is, and the Deputy has made the case very clearly.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputies for raising these important questions. All Deputies in this House will have been contacted by constituents asking when this vital service will be brought back online. I am answering questions on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. She sends her apologies.

Driving tests for essential workers will continue to be the priority for the driving test service. In line with the gradual reopening of services, driving tests for all those who are eligible to take the test and those who have been waiting longest will recommence in a limited fashion from late May. The further opening of the driver testing service will be the subject of discussions between Department of Transport officials and the Road Safety Authority in the coming weeks.

Due to the suspension of driver testing services in the initial pandemic response, along with the health protocols required since the resumption of services, a significant backlog has developed. RSA driver testers are undertaking driving tests in extraordinarily difficult conditions, in an enclosed space where physical distancing is not possible. Testers are also moving between vehicles provided by test candidates, which are not controllable work environments. The Department of Transport is liaising with the RSA on an ongoing basis to meet the growing demand for tests.

An additional 40 driver testers have been authorised, along with 36 who were approved for retention or rehire in 2020. Deputy Michael Collins asked whether additional test centres can be put on line, and they will be. The RSA is making good progress in recruiting these additional testers and they are expected to be conducting tests by the end of June 2021. The Department and the RSA will monitor what impact the new testers are having as they come on stream and the Covid-19 restriction level reduces. Further recruitment, if necessary, is being discussed. The health of the public and the testers must take priority, and, as a result, it is important to recognise that it will take time to get driver testing waiting times back to normal pre-Covid-19 levels.

Regarding driver theory tests, this is not an essential service and remains closed. In the meantime, the RSA is engaging with its service provider to examine ways of increasing the number of tests for when services resume. The aim is to increase capacity at all test centres to cater for additional appointments. Pre-pandemic capacity was approximately 15,000 tests per month. When the service is allowed to reopen, the aim is to provide approximately 50,000 tests per month. This would make substantial inroads into the backlog. A pilot online driver theory test is under way for trucks and buses. The roll-out of this option to theory tests for cars is planned to begin during May 2021, with up to 3,000 online car theory tests being conducted per month. There will be a limit on the number of customers who can avail of the service during the initial roll-out phase, but work is ongoing to make online services more widely available towards the end of 2021.

As part of the broader easing of restrictions across Irish society, I am happy to confirm that the gradual reopening of the driver instruction industry will commence from 10 May. Initial basic training, IBT, the course of mandatory lessons that learner motorcyclists must complete with an approved driver instructor, ADI, will resume for all learners from that date, regardless of employment status. Essential driver training, EDI, for cars may also resume from 10 May, but this will only be in circumstances where the learner in question is a confirmed essential worker. This cohort will be required to download and complete a self-declaration from the RSA website, which they must then present to the instructor before starting lessons. The RSA will also reopen the online EDT portal on 10 May to allow instructors to upload completed modules for the learners in question. The RSA has issued a formal communication regarding these changes to ADIs across the country via the ADI stakeholder forum.

The gradual reopening of services will not immediately solve the backlogs in the driver theory test, driver test and driving lessons. Every possible measure is being put in place to ensure that the maximum number of customers can be served, while public health guidance is strictly adhered to.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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That is a pathetic reply. It is no wonder the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, or the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, would not come into the House and read it out. Have the Government Ministers and the RSA board a brain among them? That board is arrogant and out of control. It cares nothing about young people, old people or anybody. It is outrageous that this is the answer we get. Why was it not possible to have some kind of imagination and make some effort to facilitate people? It is only wait, wait, wait and discrimination against workers, regarding whether they are essential or not. It is despicable that it is not possible to do a theory test online in this day and age. We are going backwards.

We have a board that is a quango. It is a cabal, and does not care. New members were appointed by the former Minister and Deputy, Shane Ross. They are all sitting there on a board. Would any of them have a bit of interest in young people or any driver? Appointments are being cancelled as often as 12 times. An appointment for 14 May was cancelled last Friday at 7 p.m., and an appointment for Monday morning was cancelled. It is totally disrespectful to the electorate. That is the way the Government is going on, and then the Minister of State comes in here with that toilet paper and reads it out.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I have spoken to driving instructors in west Cork. They feel they were disowned in this crisis. The responses given by the RSA to instructors were either non-existent or were childish during this pandemic. The RSA takes a fee of €250 per instructor every two years for registration. It never answers regarding what that money is spent on. It is definitely not spent on correspondence fees. The RSA has what it describes as an ADI stakeholder forum. The representative is not even known to my local instructors.

The Minister of State said this is not an essential service. That is very unfair to so many people out there who need to go to work and to avail of essential services. I appreciate that the Minister of State said that additional test centres are being examined. In an area as huge as west Cork, however, Skibbereen test centre cannot be expected to take all the workload. Areas such as Bandon, Clonakilty and Kinsale need test centres open, and this certainly must be deemed an essential service. I plead with the Minister of State, and with the Minister who should be here, to come before the people and put this right for once and for all. This situation should not be allowed to drag on for several more years.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I am very disappointed with the Minister of State. He said a theory test is not essential. What about the harvest this year? What about the farmers whose sons and daughters want to help to bring in the harvest? That is essential. Those sons and daughters can get their theory tests when they are 16 years old and can then drive tractors on their own farms. The Minister of State thinks that is not essential, but that just proves the point I have been making since I was elected.

The Government is too city-based and does not understand rural Ireland or anything about farming. The Minister of State has just proven that by saying that he thinks a driver theory test is not essential. Why? It is because he does not understand about the harvest and he does not understand the people in our areas who do not have transport. They need to get to college, to the grocery shops and to their part-time jobs, but the Minister of State is saying the people of Ireland are not essential. That is exactly what he has just said, because he does not understand the situation.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I will sum this up in a couple of words. The Minister of State knows sweet damn all about cutting silage. If he did, he would not have made the statement he did here on the record to disgrace himself and the Government he is supposed to represent. It is easy for the RSA to criminalise, penalise, demonise and paint the young people of Ireland as a target for increased revenue for the State, when the reality is that only 6.6% of traffic accidents involved young drivers and they may not even have been the cause of the accidents. It is a real pity the RSA does not focus more on the way it educates young people before they sit behind the wheel. For me, that is the real issue.

Will the Minister of State please take back the nonsensical and silly statement he made about theory tests being non-essential and only being essential for certain categories? It is essential for every young person of an age when he or she wants to get behind the wheel, like every one of us did. They are young people; we adore them and we want them to get on the road. They are as safe and entitled to do that as anybody else. If the Minister of State did know about cutting silage, he would know that a tractor cannot drive itself. A young boy or girl must be at the wheel. That is how the silage is cut and how the animals are fed in the wintertime, but a lot the Minister of State cares about the animals or the people or the young people. He has shown that here tonight.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy. I think he may have been a little harsh on the Minister of State. I doubt he realised that he was going to have to explore the challenges of cutting silage when he came in to take this Topical Issue matter. I am sure the Minister of State will convey the messages he has received to his colleagues. He also has a further response.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Ceann Comhairle was very kind to defend me, but I really am fine. I thank all the Deputies for their contributions, and particularly the constructive suggestion from Deputy O'Donoghue that we bring our driver theory tests online, as they should be. I am very happy that it is starting this month, and that there will be approximately 3,000 tests per month for cars and that it is also happening for other vehicle classes.

While the driver test service is limited at present, the RSA is making plans for when testing will be permitted to resume for all. This includes increasing the numbers of testing staff. The RSA is also examining whether the number of tests a driver tester can perform each day can be increased. Due to the additional hygiene and sanitation procedures now required, each testing slot takes much longer to complete, and consequently the number of tests a driver tester could conduct each day was reduced from eight to five when the service reopened. Following experience of managing tests under Covid-19 conditions, this increased to six in mid-September.

The RSA has set up a dedicated web forum so essential workers can request a driver test. Anyone seeking an urgent driver test appointment who falls into this category can apply to book a driver test this way. The Department of Transport welcomes the roll-out of the online theory testing service, albeit in a limited capacity initially, and the RSA is fully committed to extending the service to all categories of vehicles. However, the expansion of services will take time. Operational, technical and contractual issues must be addressed prior to further expansion. There will be a limit on the number of customers able to avail of the service during the initial roll-out phase, but work is ongoing to make online services more widely available towards the end of 2021. From the start, it has been clear that the first priority is public safety. We want to provide services, and we know people are seeking services, but we will provide them only to the limit possible while preserving public health.