Results 61-80 of 654 for speaker:Michael Murphy
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Business of Joint Committee (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: We will briefly go into private session to deal with some housekeeping matters.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: On behalf of the committee, I welcome: Mr. Keith Walsh, assistant secretary, and Mr. Tomás Campbell, principal officer, from the Department of Transport; Mr. Sam Waide, CEO, Mr. Brendan Walsh, chief operations officer, Mr. Michael Rowland, director of research, standards and assurance, Ms Nessa Kelly, director of strategy, performance and transformation, and Ms Annette Ferguson,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: Thank you. I invite Mr. Waide to make his opening statement on behalf of the Road Safety Authority.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: I thank Mr. Waide. I now invite the deputy Garda commissioner to make her opening statement on behalf of An Garda Síochána.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: I thank the deputy commissioner. It was remiss of me not to acknowledge other representatives from PARC in the Public Gallery. I ask Ms Gray to make her opening statement.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: Thank you, Ms Gray. It is budget week. Everybody is very busy. I am very grateful to see such a high attendance. It reflects the seriousness with which we all as Oireachtas Members and in particular as members of this committee take the topic of road safety. I express my gratitude to members. On their and my behalf, as we begin this session on road safety I would like to take a moment...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: I thank Mr. Walsh.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: It is simply because I want to be fair. We have a lot of members here. Senator Cosgrove is next, followed by Deputy Currie.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: Ten seconds.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: Okay. We have received a notification from Senator Duffy that he is allocating his time to Deputy Currie.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: Senator Goldsboro has indicated to me that she is allocating her time to Deputy Cathal Crowe.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: I ask Ms Gunne to be very brief.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: I acknowledge the members of An Garda Síochána involved in roads policing. I particularly think of Garda Kevin Flatley today. The opening statement made clear that he was very passionate about road safety. I wish to come back to a line of questioning that Deputy Currie had. Dr. Walsh said that approximately 60,000-plus drivers are on a learner permit of more than three years....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: The regulation is being finalised. The Minister has to sign and then there is an effective date. When is the regulation expected to be available to the Minister for signing?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: The concern around the date is the impact that 60,000 learner permit drivers may have on waiting lists for a driving test. Am I right in saying that we have waiting times down to approximately between nine and ten weeks at the moment? If I am recalling the RSA’s action plan correctly, there is capacity in the system to do approximately 7,000 or 8,000 tests per week.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: Has there been any discussion between the RSA, the Department and the Minister in recent weeks about the impact that a surge, if I can call it that, of 60,000 tests may have on waiting times? Is that a concern for the RSA, or can Mr. Waide say to us today that there is capacity within the RSA to take on those 60,000 additional tests? What impact will it have on waiting times?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: I wish to press Mr. Waide further because it is critical to close the loophole for learner drivers. On those discussions that the RSA has had with the Minister, is there a strategy being formulated? If the Minister asks what is the effective date by which he can sign this regulation, has the RSA said to the Minister that he has to hold off two or three months or can he do this straight away?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: My time is very limited. Of those 60,000, how many are on ten learner permits or more? Are some of those 60,000 people on 20 learner permits? What people really want to know today is when the regulation will be signed and when it will be effective from.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: A total of 6,000 people are on ten learner permits or more.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Road Safety: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)
Michael Murphy: I want to press here that closing this loophole is such a serious issue. Has the RSA indicated to the Minister how soon it can take on this additional demand for testing? Is there a date before which the RSA cannot take it on?