asked the Minister for Local Government why a driving test has so far not been provided for a person (name supplied) in County Laois who made his application and sent in his money four months ago; and why correspondence by Deputy Lalor with his Department of 15th October on the issue has not been answered.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Laois Driving Test.
101.
The applicant in this case applied on the basis that he had undergone a test already and so need only pay a fee of £1. It was not possible to confirm this, despite correspondence with him. Further investigation was undertaken which did not prove any more fruitful. In all the circumstances, it has been decided now to arrange a test for the applicant on 17th December on the basis that he had claimed, and he has been notified of this arrangement. I may add that in correspondence the applicant forwarded a further £1, but the total of £2 forwarded by him was still less than the fee of £3 for a first test.
I understand that the Deputy's letter of 15th October was mislaid. I regret this and have instructed that arrangements be made to avoid a recurrence. The Deputy wrote subsequently on 9th December and a reply to this letter was being prepared when he put down his question.
I may say that it is a pity that so much delay and confusion has occurred in this case, to the inconvenience of the applicant and the Deputy. In fairness I should say that the section dealing with driving tests carries a heavy volume of work and have a very good record in their dealings with the public. I apologise to Deputy Lalor for what happened. It should not have happened even though it was simply a question of a file being mislaid. I am sorry it happened and I have taken steps to ensure that it does not happen again.