Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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375. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to meet driving instructor representatives regarding the conditions of their work during the Covid-19 pandemic. [15651/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs) are not employed either by my Department or the Road Safety Authority. Individual instructors and  schools function as entirely independent private operators and neither my Department nor the Authority can dictate their work conditions or how they choose to run their businesses. It is up to each instructor or school to make the appropriate choices to protect themselves and their families.

I understand moreover that the Authority has been in regular communication with ADIs right through the pandemic and has provided timely updates as to the status of driving instruction under various levels of Covid restrictions.  In particular, the ADI Stakeholder Forum, which is recognised as the only broadly based representative forum for the ADI community as a whole, has an ongoing and constructive engagement with the Road Safety Authority.  I understand that the Forum has just recently been invited to make a submission to the Oireachtas Transport Committee on behalf of ADIs as whole and I look forward to their engagement.