Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, to consider whether a compulsory driving retraining programme should be introduced for those drivers who are unfortunate enough to have lost a limb as a result of an accident or medical complications. This may seem a strange matter to raise but I refer to the wonderful work of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in its efforts to reform and strengthen the pathway to learning and achieving full driving licences for able-bodied citizens. I acknowledge that I am speaking about a very small cohort of the population but they use the road along with all the other drivers.

I know of two constituents, one of whom has completely lost a limb and the other who cannot use his right leg. They both drive specially adapted cars. Can the Minister of State imagine if he had to drive an adapted car with his left leg for the rest of his life and he had permission to drive even though he might never have had to use his left leg to drive? It is a very different experience for the brain to have to use the left leg as opposed to the right leg or to use hand controls in the case of a person with no legs. The driving licence gives such a person full permission to drive. I think the Minister of State will agree that this is madness and that it is completely unsafe both for those who have, unfortunately, lost a limb and for the other drivers they may encounter.