Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister, Deputy Ross, to the House. I appreciate he is taking time out of his busy schedule. One thing I can say about the Minister is he comes to the Seanad and engages with Senators and I acknowledge this. I know Members appreciate when a Minister comes to the House and the Minister, Deputy Ross, does so when at all possible. I acknowledge this and thank him for it.

I do not want to go into this at length as we have had a few argy-bargies about driver tests and I do not want to get too bogged down in the figures. Suffice it to say, today I contacted the RSA, which I do regularly, and I acknowledge its support in sending on updated details. While I do not want to get bogged down in the details, the email I received from the RSA confirmed that 76,964 applicants are on the driver test list. Of these, 30,370 tests have been scheduled and a further 25,079 applicants are waiting for a test date. The remaining 21,514 applicants are unavailable for testing, for example, because an applicant has not completed the mandatory driver test lessons. In essence, today 55,000 people are waiting for a driver test.

The Minister remembers telling us the RSA was engaging more testers. I followed this up with the RSA to discover a number of testers were due to retire in November and December. This means that while new people were coming on stream other people were due to retire. There is also a training period of six to eight weeks. What we are saying is we have an issue. What is really important, and the Minister knows this from speaking to his rural colleagues, is that the majority of young people living in rural Ireland depend on their cars for college, work and daily life. They need an opportunity to do their test and, therefore, to demonstrate their ability to drive safely on our roads. I know this is paramount for the Minister.

What additional resources can be put in place to speed up this process? Has the Minister or the RSA considered outsourcing some of the testing? For that matter, would it be appropriate to consider this? It was done in the past. Professional people with competence in this area of testing and examination could be brought in to eat into the backlog. Today, in Tallaght, 2,754 people are listed as scheduled for an appointment, in Cork the figure is 2,491, in Finglas the figure is 2,699 and in Churchtown, the Minister's home patch, the figure is 1,466. Will the Minister look favourably at supporting whatever mechanisms are necessary to get a grip on these very long waiting lists that are causing concern, in particular to rural people and rural communities?

I am aware that since December there have been 350 cases of cars of unaccompanied learner drivers being seized. I do not condone learner drivers driving unaccompanied. It is not right that people who are not fully competent and tested are driving. We cannot allow people to break the law. On the other hand, we must support these people to be able to do their test as quickly as possible, demonstrate their competence and be allowed to get out on the road. Will the Minister update us on some of the figures? How does the Minister intend to use his office to influence speedier reductions in these lists?