John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Despite that they are away from home from Monday to Friday, often arriving home late on Friday and returning to college on Sunday, they are still required to be insured for 365 days a year at a cost of €1,400 when in reality they may only drive a car 80 days in a year. There is a need for some ministerial intervention in this regard. There are many other things that can be done to ensure that young drivers drive safely, including a limit on the number of hours they may drive and the setting of a time after which they may not drive and so on. We must do all that we can to bring about a reduction in the cost of insurance for young drivers. Many families cannot afford to pay high insurance costs and, in some cases, do not pay for it at all which means there are young drivers out on the roads without insurance, which is even more dangerous. I would welcome a response from the Minister on those two issues.