I welcome the opportunity to raise this issue of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the driver testing service of the Department of the Environment and Local Government. I thank the Minister for coming in to respond.
It is clear from this report that a complete overhaul of the driver testing service is necessary. Recommendations jump off the pages of this report. The recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General is a damming indictment of a service which was found to be haphazard and inefficient. It showed that the pass rate for drivers varied from as low as 47% in Gorey to as high as 71% in Sligo. Centres in the three eastern regions tended to have pass rates below the national average. The question arises as to why there are such variations. Yet again we are relying on the good offices of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. John Purcell, to highlight another flagrant inefficiency in a basic service to the consumer and citizens. Was the Government happy to drive on regardless of the glaring inconsistencies in the level of testing throughout the country? Was the Department aware of this situation and, if so, why has so little been done until the issue was brought into the public domain in this way?
It is clear there is a difference in the standards demanded from different testers and some routes are far more challenging than others. Drivers who pay a variety of road taxes are entitled to better treatment on this issue. At a time when the number of cars coming onto our roads is increasing at the level of 1,000 per week in the greater Dublin area alone, it is clear that drastic action is needed to increase the number of testers and to ensure they operate to a uniform standard. The number of people driving on provisional licences, many of whom would want to take the test at an earlier stage, is a cause of major concern, particularly in light of the increasing number of deaths and serious accidents on the roads and the numbers of young people involved in those accidents.
I am concerned about the waiting times and I hope the Minister will address that issue tonight. The new target is a ten-week waiting period. Are these targets being met in the Dublin area and in other areas? The Minister has announced an independent review of the service, but will he outline more immediate action to tackle the problem which has major safety implications for drivers, passengers and all road users? The immediate steps would include the provision of more testers to reduce the backlog of tests, regular and mandatory refresher courses for testers and a review of all the testing routes to ensure uniformity of standards. Surely some of these issues could be tackled immediately. What is the timescale for the independent review report and when does he expect to get it? I welcome the fact that the Minister has said in the context of that report that there will be broad consultation. There are a number of areas where the initiative could be taken immediately to deal with the matter.
An independent review could be translated as putting the issue on the back burner. It is a most urgent issue which demands immediate action. The report is an indictment of our approach to this central issue for road safety at a time when there are increasing numbers of new drivers on the roads. In this case, safety considerations demand a swift and efficient response.
