Danny Healy-Rae urges amnesty for delayed driving tests
Danny Healy-Rae raised urgent concerns about long waits for driving tests and urged the minister to introduce an amnesty or temporary measures to allow young people to drive while they wait. He highlighted individual cases where apprenticeships and courses could be lost and warned that summer staffing will worsen delays.
He asked that if a driving test cannot be carried out within ten weeks the learner be allowed to drive unaccompanied until the test takes place - or be subject to curtailed hours (for example, restricted to daytime driving) so they can attend work and apprenticeships.
He described six new applicants seeking tests, and gave specific examples: a young man from Carraside who needs to travel to an apprenticeship in Tralee and a young man from Hetford near Killarney hoping to take an agricultural course in Clannacilty. He noted family constraints such as parents who must drive the learners back and forth and a mother who is working while managing a farm after the death of the father a couple of years ago.
He reported that two of the six recent applicants have been told they will not get a test for seven months. He warned that the situation is likely to worsen over the summer when testers are away, increasing waiting times.
He said he had raised the matter previously by way of question to the minister and repeated his plea in the chamber, describing the problem as an emergency and urging immediate action to give young people a realistic chance to take up training and work.
Call for immediate amnesty
He asked that if a driving test cannot be carried out within ten weeks the learner be allowed to drive unaccompanied until the test takes place - or be subject to curtailed hours (for example, restricted to daytime driving) so they can attend work and apprenticeships.
Personal examples cited
He described six new applicants seeking tests, and gave specific examples: a young man from Carraside who needs to travel to an apprenticeship in Tralee and a young man from Hetford near Killarney hoping to take an agricultural course in Clannacilty. He noted family constraints such as parents who must drive the learners back and forth and a mother who is working while managing a farm after the death of the father a couple of years ago.
Scale and timing of delays
He reported that two of the six recent applicants have been told they will not get a test for seven months. He warned that the situation is likely to worsen over the summer when testers are away, increasing waiting times.
Previous approaches and appeal to the minister
He said he had raised the matter previously by way of question to the minister and repeated his plea in the chamber, describing the problem as an emergency and urging immediate action to give young people a realistic chance to take up training and work.
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Transcript
Thank you very much, Colonel. Minister, I raised this matter by way of question to Minister Kenny a week ago or so, and I'm still very concerned about it. Again, today I have six new people looking to get a test brought forward. Two of these now won't get a test for seven months, and this is when they've been told. I'll give you an example. One is a young fella from Carraside that can do his apprenticeship in Tralee if he can get there, and he has work to do at home in the evenings, and he would dearly love to do this apprenticeship, but his parents can drive him all the ways in the morning to Tralee and go home and come back up and pick him up again in the evening. Likewise, a young fella from Hetford near Killarney wants to do the agricultural course in Clannacilty, and he's afraid he won't be able to take up this chance as well, even though his mum is working and is trying to manage the farm at home. His parents, his father died last year, a couple of years ago, and he's trying to manage the farm. So there's things like this, and the last day I was talking to Minister Kenny, I asked him that if we could have an amnesty, if the test can't be carried out in ten weeks, let the driver drive unaccompanied until the test is, until the test takes place. I'm asking you to consider that because, and we do need to give young fellas a chance, and even if you were to curtail their driving for 12 hours of the day so that they wouldn't be driving at night, that would cover them for work and apprenticeships and everything like that, maybe something like that. Thank you Deputy. Right, well just, I'm asking you, this is an emergency, and do something please, this happened last year before, and the summer holidays are going to take a lot of the testers away, and the time will get longer.