Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and congratulate him on his appointment. He is very welcome but I want to put on the record that I had been expecting the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, because the officials in his Department contacted my office to reschedule. This Commencement matter was originally agreed approximately two weeks ago. Having had ongoing contact with the Seanad office, which indicated that it could not be changed, these officials made contact with my office and indicated that the date would be 18 October as it suited the Minister. We have this in correspondence and in emails. They said that this particular occasion would suit the Minister because he was anxious to be here to address the matter. Clearly there is a meeting of the Cabinet and he is busy. I appreciate that. I would not have delayed this matter for so long, however, had I thought that the Minister would not be here. That is an important point that I wish to make.

I welcome the Minister of State. There are 52 driving test centres in the country. Despite all the promises made by the Minister and the officials in his Department to address the long waiting lists for people who wish to take tests, we now know that none of the driving test centres under the responsibility of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, has met its target, which was to have an average waiting period of ten weeks. I looked at the files and have tracked this every month for the past year. Looking back at February 2017, we were told in this House that additional people and resources would be provided, but it has not happened.

I am more interested in hearing what the Minister of State has to say rather than what I have to say because I know the case. All over the country, people are waiting up to and over 22 weeks. As recently as the week before last, I received a letter from the RSA. I have had very little correspondence from the Department in this regard despite my best efforts. The RSA contacted me and gave me these examples. In Buncrana, County Donegal, people are waiting 19 weeks.People in Donegal are waiting 24 weeks and those in Letterkenny are waiting 21 weeks.

The implications of this are that students and people who study and work across the Border cannot travel if they have not done their driving tests. I refer to students who want to study in Derry. They have some level of driving experience and want to complete their driving tests in order that they might drive on their own. When they need to leave their cars at the university, they cannot do so and they also cannot get jobs. The Government has given a commitment to rural development and to supporting rural communities. People want to sit their driving tests. I want the Minister of State to tell me how he will address and dramatically reduce the waiting lists, how the initiative will be resourced and how many people have been put in place to address the deficit in terms of this major problem for those living in rural areas.