Vol. 317 No. 2
asked the Minister for the Environment the number of driving testers who were seconded from their primary job to provide material for answers to parliamentary questions tabled by Dáil Deputies and the amount of time taken by those driving testers to provide this information.
23.
asked the Minister for the Environment the number of driving testers employed after the last three advertisements were inserted in the national newspapers and the length of time these appointments were made after the advertisements were published.
24.
asked the Minister for the Environment the present standards required for driving testers, the form of examination they are required to take and how the examination is assessed.
25.
asked the Minister for the Environment if his Department have any refresher courses for driving testers and, if so, the number of courses which have taken place in the last two years and the number of testers who participated in these courses.
26.
asked the Minister for the Environment the number of driving test supervisors presently employed by the Department and the number required at any one time.
27.
asked the Minister for the Environment the number of driving test supervisors appointed in the last two years, how often spot checks are carried out on testers and the number of checks made on testers in the last two years.
28.
asked the Minister for the Environment if he has received a request seeking a meeting with him from driving testers, if so, the date he received this request and when he proposes to meet them.
29.
asked the Minister for the Environment the number of driving testers employed in this country.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 to 29 inclusive, together.
The number of driver testers and supervisor testers employed by my Department at present are 61 and six respectively. Arrangements are in progress to fill seven further posts of driver tester and one further post of supervisor tester.
Competitions for appointments as driver tester were held by the Civil Service Commission in 1977 and 1978, and a further competition is in progress. There were five appointments from each of the 1977 and 1978 competitions. Appointments in these cases were made approximately eight months from the dates of advertisement. No appointment to the supervisor tester grade was made in the past two years.
The qualifications for posts as driver tester are set out in the conditions issued from time to time by the Civil Service Commission. Competitions comprise a written examination, an interview and a practical driving test.
Each supervisor tester exercises continuous supervision over the work of a number of driver testers in a district, including checking on their work. His other normal functions include the survey of test routes, advice on location of premises and the carrying out of particular types of test. Details are not readily available in regard to numbers of checks on testers carried out by supervisory testers over a period.
The work assigned to driver testers does not include the preparation of replies to Dáil questions.
While formal refresher courses are not normally held, various conferences for the staff, at tester and supervisor tester levels, and at central and district levels, coupled with continuing advice to testers by supervisor testers, fulfil the appropriate function in this regard. All the staff participated in a four-day conference this year and supervisor tester staff participated in a conference in 1978.
A request for a meeting from the union representing the testers and supervisor testers reached me on 22 October 1979. In reply the union were assured that officers of the relevant section of my Department would be readily available to discuss with the union any issues affecting their members' conditions of employment. Such discussions are normal and a further one has been arranged for a date this month.
May I put one final question to the Minister about this whole matter and in support of the general thesis of Deputy Belton? Would the Minister now give a categorical assurance that there will never again be the kind of amnesty or step which he took on this occasion and which, in my view, was seen to be reckless and irresponsible, that this will never again happen so long as he has responsibility in respect of it and that therefore anybody at present awaiting a test should not believe that clemency of the kind extended to other drivers on a previous occasion will ever again recur in the interest of public safety, if nothing else?
The action was taken to relieve the dreadful backlog——
That is the Minister's story. There were other actions he could have taken which he did not take.
——as a result of the postal dispute. There was no other option open to me. As I explained in reply to these questions, it takes so long to recruit further staff——
Will the Minister guarantee that there will not be a repetition?
It would be my intention not to have to repeat it.
Will the Minister guarantee that he will not do so?
I would not anticipate it happening for the same reasons as it happened this year.
It is not important whether the Minister anticipates it or not. Can he say that it will not happen?
I do not anticipate it happening.
That is too loose.
Is the Minister aware that there is considerable disquiet among those people who were fortunate enough to get a driving test prior to his October decision and among tutors in driving schools, relating to the uneven standard that driving testers apply to applicants for driving tests? Would he not consider that there is a need to improve the methods of recruiting and the methods of training so that the schools which train people for driving tests would have a much better understanding of what it is in fact they are trying to educate people for?
There is a further question here dealing with that.
We are near the end of Question Time. I am simply asking the Minister if his attention has been drawn to representations which have been made to me about the disquiet among certain people because of the unevenness of standard of the driving test put by driving testers? For example, one driving tester would ask one question on one day and the same question on another day and look for contradictory replies.
On different occasions supervisors sit in the back seat during the test in order to ensure that the approach of testers is uniform throughout the system. I know that that happens and should happen regularly.
The whole point of my question is this: on that very point the Minister said that the details of such spot checks were not readily available. It is that area that I would suggest the Minister might look at.
I will certainly look at it.
