Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I commend my colleague, Senator Victor Boyhan, who has raised this issue relentlessly in the Chamber. I fully support his efforts. If one looks at the numbers for the three test centres in my own county, Buncranna, Letterkenny and Donegal, they are at the top of the list for waiting times.

I am sure that the Minister will appreciate the matter that I raise. It is the poor public transport infrastructure in rural Ireland which means if people want to stay in their job, avail of education, visit loved ones in hospital and so on they require a car. I am concerned about the considerable time involved which can be as high as six months for a test, and then there are repeat tests, because not everyone passes the first time. That is unacceptable. The Road Safety Authority has known about the shortage of testers for a long time. I am thinking of the number of driving instructors across the State. I cannot imagine there is significant further training to take people to the level necessary to become testers. I ask the Minister to grapple with this matter in conjunction with the Road Safety Authority, with a particular focus on the impact it has on the rural economies.

We talk about the economy moving in the right direction again. When we look outside from the windows of Leinster House, the cranes can be seen across the skyline, but that recovery is not happening in rural areas at anything like the same level. Situations like this, where people have to wait so long to get either their test or their repeat test will not help to develop the economy, it will hold us back. It is an issue with wider implications than mere inconvenience for those who want to pass their test.The frustration has been brought to my attention time and again by people across Donegal, be they from the Inishowen peninsula, the north Donegal area, the north-east area towards Letterkenny, or south Donegal. It appears that the Government and the Road Safety Authority are unable to sort this issue out. I commend Senator Boyhan and I commend the Minister for attending to deal with this issue today. I appeal to the Minister to intervene to find a solution with the Road Safety Authority.