Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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It is my privilege to welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is the first opportunity we have had since his elevation. He is very welcome.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Acting Chairman.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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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.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I need to clarify that the Seanad Office never delays a Commencement debate. Senators submit Commencement debates.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Yes.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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The Seanad Office then sends the matters to the Cathaoirleach and he either selects them or not as the case may be. In the case of individual negotiations between Ministers and Departments in order to request things, such matters are entirely between those involved.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I shall clarify the matter. I am very happy to put the matter on the record in case there was any misunderstanding on my part. To be clear, approval was granted for this matter to be debated on the Commencement. The Minister's office contacted the Seanad Office and conveyed to him that it would have to make contact with me, which it did. We discussed dates and I agreed a number of them. Then the Minister's officials - the information is trapped in emails, I mean there is correspondence on the record - indicated that today, 18 October, would be suitable. To clarify, this matter was selected previously but the Minister could not attend the House. Ultimately, I reached an agreement with the Minister but it was on the basis that he would be here today.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I thank the Senator for clarifying the matter. The Minister of State has four minutes.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this very important matter.

I cannot comment on the correspondence that has been exchanged between the Senator and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. All I can say is that the Minister is attending a Cabinet meeting this morning. I suspect that the Cabinet meeting has occurred because of the national emergency that arose on Monday and, therefore, these events were unforeseen and unavoidable. The Cabinet meeting was scheduled to take place now as a direct result of the national effort that was made on Monday and yesterday to avoid the worst possible outcomes of the storm that hit the country on Monday. As I am the Minister of State with special responsibility for tourism and sport I will read the reply which the Minister has supplied and which deals with the issues raised by Senator Boyhan.

The driver testing service has experienced an increase of almost 20% in the levels of applications during the past four years. This, coupled with the retirement of driver testers, has meant that the waiting times for customers for driving tests have increased. Driving tests are delivered across 52 test centres nationally. The objective of the RSA is to have a national average waiting time of not more than ten weeks. However, the current national average waiting time for a driving test is 14 weeks. The RSA continues to monitor capacity against demand and deploys driver testers to best meet demand across all test centres.

The RSA currently employs almost 100 driver testers. The Department sanctioned the appointment of an additional ten driver testers in October 2016 and a further seven in April of this year. While these assignments have maintained core numbers following retirements, they have not kept pace with the increase in application numbers. Last month, the Department gave sanction to the RSA to recruit a further 11 driver testers. The initiative will allow the RSA to replace retired testers as well as boost driver tester numbers to help alleviate some of the pressures from the sustained increase in demand for tests. It is envisaged that 11 driver testers will be assigned, trained and conducting tests by early 2018. The RSA is undertaking other initiatives - and plans to undertake more - in order to increase capacity to deliver extra driving tests. These initiatives include the delivery of 120 extra overtime tests per driver tester who participates. To date, 49 driver testers have committed to the delivery of the extra tests. It is expected that this initiative will yield at least 5,880 additional tests between October 2017 and March 2018.

A total of 1,184 applicants have been contacted with a view to reducing the number of no-shows for driving tests. As many as 342 tests that would have been lost due to no-shows have been avoided. The tests, in this instance, have been made available to other test applicants. In terms of a reduction in non-conducted driving tests, the RSA will shortly begin communicating with applicants via text messaging and applicants' approved driving instructors, some key messages on the vehicle and document requirements closer to test appointment dates in an effort to reduce non-conducted driving tests.

The RSA plans to introduce, in 2018, a new test booking system that will give applicants much more control over their booking and appointment choice. Regarding people who seek urgent appointments, I am assured by the RSA that there is a priority list whereby cancelled test appointments are made available to such applicants. Over 1,000 tests are cancelled by driving test applicants weekly and these slots are subsequently offered to applicants who require urgent test appointments.

I wish to advise the Senator that the Department has asked the RSA to examine the longer-term staffing needs of the driver tester service to ensure that the RSA can plan for a revision of tester numbers based on demand for tests and better manage succession planning in respect of driver testers who may retire. The RSA accepts that current waiting times remain too high but I am assured that the measures it has put in place will have the desired effect of reducing waiting times for the public.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State. I wish to advise Senator Boyhan that he has one minute.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I am shocked and surprised by what the Minister of State has said. I am looking at a transcript for February 2017. One might as well have cut and paste his sentences into the document. It contains exactly the same sentences, commas and everything, which is really interesting. I would like the Minister of State to take a look at the matter. I will take the trouble to send the segment to the Minister today.

I do not agree with the sentence uttered by the Minister of State to the effect that "Driving tests are delivered across 52 test centres". I told him that and he would know that in any event. He also said that the current national average waiting time for a driving test is 14 weeks. I can tell him that this is not the case. I received a letter two weeks ago from the RSA. In that context, I reiterate that the waiting time in Buncrana is 19 weeks, in Donegal it is 24 weeks and in Letterkenny it is 21 weeks. Nowhere in the more than 50 centres does the waiting time meet the target of 20 weeks. No centre comes anywhere near that target. Let me continue with the list of waiting times, which are: Athlone, 21 weeks; Buncrana, 24 weeks, Carrick-on-Shannon, 21 weeks; Clonmel, 26 weeks and so on. None of the centres is delivering. I am shocked that the Minister of State has come in here and said that the Minister is satisfied.

In his final sentence, the Minister of State said that the RSA accepts that waiting times are too long. I suggest that the waiting times are far too long. Local representatives throughout this country have consistently contacted my office in the past 12 months to say that they have met people on a daily basis who cannot get appointments for tests. The situation is grossly unfair. I do not know where the Government's commitment to support people in rural communities who want to access jobs has gone.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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We allow a brief supplementary comment. The Senator's time is up.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I have made my point.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I come from a rural community and the Senator does not need to lecture me about the Government's support for such communities. I come from probably one of the most isolated rural communities in the entire country so I am very much aware of the difficulties and challenges that face these communities.

I reiterate that there is an avenue for rural dwellers who need to complete a driving test for work or other purposes. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, over 1,000 tests are cancelled per week. That situation provides an opportunity to people to avail of a test at short notice should there be a work requirement or in a situation where they need to obtain a licence because of where they live or their circumstances. This is an avenue that I encourage anybody to avail of and it is something that my office has assisted people with in the past.

I advise Senator Boyhan to go back to the local representatives who have contacted him and advise them of that avenue rather than stand up here to pontificate and rant about the Government. I suggest that he do something useful and inform people of the avenues that can assist in alleviating the problem.

The figures I have are quite different from those outlined by the Senator.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I give the Minister of State that point.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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The Senator quoted figures for Buncrana and various other places.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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The Minister of State is being repetitive.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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The waiting times are as follows: Killarney, 21 weeks; Clonmel, 20 weeks-----

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I can give my letter to the Minister of State as I have it here.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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-----Newcastlewest, 20 weeks; Carlow, 19 weeks; Birr, 19 weeks; Kilkenny, 19 weeks; Tralee, 18 weeks; Athlone , 18 weeks; Ennis, 18 weeks; Thurles, 18; Loughrea, 17 weeks; Clifden, 17 weeks; Mullingar, 16 weeks; Shannon, 16 weeks; Longford, 16 weeks; Dungarvan, 16 weeks; Mallow, 16 weeks; Donegal, 16 weeks-----

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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The Minister of State has made his point.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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-----Galway, 16 weeks; Tipperary, 16 weeks; Portlaoise, 16 weeks; Tuam, 16 weeks; Sligo, 16 weeks; Buncrana, 16 weeks; Letterkenny, 16 weeks; Roscommon, 15 weeks; Waterford, 15 weeks; Cork, 15 weeks; Skibbereen, 15 weeks; Nenagh, 15 weeks; Tullamore, 14 weeks; and Wexford 14. The waiting times do get much shorter. The list continues: Kilrush, eight weeks; Limerick, 10 weeks; Tallaght, 11 weeks; Ballina, one of the most rural parts of the country, 11 weeks; Naas, 11 weeks; Churchtown, 11 weeks; and Monaghan, 12 weeks.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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The Minister of State has made his point.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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Senator Boyhan, rather than coming in here and spouting out figures that are inaccurate----

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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A point of order, Acting Chairman.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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-----it would be much more-----

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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No, I cannot allow the Minister of State to continue.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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-----in order if people stuck to the facts.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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We are short on time.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I have stated the facts. I can give them to the Minister of State on our way out.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State. The House stands suspended until 11.30 a.m.