Results 21-40 of 150 for speaker:Michael Murphy

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: That is interesting. If we look at last year, there were on average 36 tests a week per tester. There were some weeks in the action plan at maybe 44. In a normal working week, in the absence of overtime or working on public holidays, that is, nine-to-five, five days a week, how many tests does a tester conduct?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: I am trying to ensure the robustness and resilience of the plan, which provides for 7,200 tests a week by 200 testers, and confirm that it allows for annual leave or sickness.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: We are building capacity in the system to be able to do 360,000 tests. That is just simple maths - 7,200 tests a week multiplied by 50 working weeks in a year. Even at 48 working weeks per year, it is nearly 350,000 tests. There is plenty of capacity to get the waiting time well below ten weeks within 12 months.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: My time is short. That is the-----

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: I will ask a question on that to get into the granular detail of the plan. There are a lot of different centres in the action plan whereby waiting times are going to be reduced by half from 20 weeks to ten without the addition of any new tester. I am going to take Clonmel as an example. Can the witnesses tell me about the waiting list? I know it is a 20-week waiting list but how many are...

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: Can Mr. Walsh explain in the context of the EU working directive and so on how the waiting list can be reduced by half in Clonmel without an additional tester?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: Looking at the action plan, I see one tester for Clonmel, and Clonmel migrating to two testers by the end of September. Is Mr. Walsh saying we could have an additional tester in Clonmel but that detail is not in the action plan?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: It would be of concern to me if there is a plan to reduce the lists in Clonmel, and indeed many other examples within the action plan, simply by overtime alone. That is not sustainable. Can Mr. Walsh confirm that we will have an additional permanent tester in Clonmel by the end of September, and we are going to go from one to two?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: Tipperary town is staying at one.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: Coming back to my original question, is the RSA confident that it can achieve the ten weeks by the end of September and that the capacity it is building in the system with 200 permanent testers is 360,000 tests per year? Is the forecasted demand for testing 276,000?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: What will it be for 2027?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: So we can be very hopeful of reducing the waiting lists by natural progression.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: I am going to give Senator Comyn, who is joining us today, two and a half minutes. I hope to let our other members in for one and a half minutes.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: I am going to allow everybody back in. I will allow for a minute or a minute and half each because other members could walk in. I am going to go in reverse order. I will go to the Vice-Chair, Deputy Moynihan, first, followed by Deputies Currie and Collins. I will then come in with some closing remarks.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: I have some concluding questions and remarks. I have a request for information the witnesses might follow up with. I just want to understand the number of drivers who are on learner permits. Could that information be broken down by the number of years they have been on those permits? Are there drivers out there who have had more than ten learner permits?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: Could I get that data broken down? I want to understand because, if we are to legislate for compulsory sitting of the test, a spike will occur. We need to do more outside of legislation to avoid having so many no-shows. We need better education. There are many cars turning up that are not in a roadworthy state or are without insurance or tax. To what extent should we look at the...

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: Perhaps we need to do it a bit better. A lot of information has been provided to me by means of parliamentary questions regarding unaccompanied learner drivers associated with fatal collisions but I would like to know whether these learner drivers had multiple learner permits. Could that information be collated for me? I thank the witnesses for coming today. They came at reasonably...

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: It is on the website so, next week or the week after, I can monitor Clonmel, Tipperary town, Nenagh, Thurles and all of the other test centres and see what is happening. Is that the case or is it just a national-----

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: While the average is 20 weeks, the waiting time at many test centres is more than 30 weeks. There is no plan to provide for live monitoring of centres in the future.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Michael Murphy: Even at a county level, there is an average of three or four testing centres in a county. In exceptional cases, there might be five or six. If the four or five individual centres in a county could be accumulated-----