Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is welcome. Senator Duffy mentioned the waiting list, which has 83,486 people on it. I will not say anything about the RSA, but its website still refers to an average waiting time of ten to 12 weeks even though we have been experiencing this issue since the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope the solution that the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, is coming up with includes additional testing centres in regions currently without them and the seconding of instructors. It is a booming business because some 80,000 people are waiting to get their driving licences. Seconding driving instructors into neighbouring counties to assist with testing would be a great way to assist with the backlog.

Like my fellow Fine Gael Senators, I am an advocate for driving lessons in secondary schools. I worry about trying to progress that initiative if students will not have an opportunity to sit an exam before they get to third-level education. That would be counterproductive. I hope all these measures can be considered collectively.