I thank the Chair for giving me this opportunity to raise a matter which is especially important to young people. I refer to the issue of driving licences and the associated driving test.
Currently, young people are being discriminated against in an unfair manner, and I ask that the situation be reviewed immediately. A person aged 18 who gets a provisional licence is likely to spend this first licence just learning to drive. Many young people go through the first two licences learning to drive, if they have access to a car. If a person does not take the test by then, he or she may not get a third or subsequent licence.
The rules relating to provisional licences indicate that a person can be regarded as an applicant for a first provisional licence only after five years has elapsed from the time they previously held a provisional licence. This amounts to a five-year ban, which is unfair, and I would like the Minister to clarify the matter.
Many third level students have a licence which they renew in order to be able to learn to drive but do not have the time to properly address their driving lessons, and time can run out unexpectedly for them. This can mean that somebody looking for a job which specifies the need for a car is automatically faced with a battle to get a subsequent licence. Similarly, people who are unemployed when they leave secondary school may have an interest in learning to drive but may not have the financial resources to follow up a strict regime of learning to drive. Either way, a person who reaches the age of 22 or 23 can find himself or herself in no-man's-land when trying to get a third or subsequent licence. Surely it is very harsh treatment if there is a five-year wait before they are treated as first-time provisional licence holders again.
It is galling that many people convicted of serious driving offences are disqualified from driving from six months to a year. If people who want to learn legally to drive a car are effectively banned by the current regulations and others who have been convicted of an offence are back on the road, is this not an anomaly? Young people have enough burdens in relation to mobility without the added complication of having to fight a case over years for a subsequent provisional driving licence. The cost of car insurance for young people makes it almost impossible for young people to drive a car. Insurance companies are planning to increase insurance premiums by five to ten per cent. The rates for under 25s makes one wonder how anyone can afford to drive even if they had a provisional or full driving licence. The cost of insurance might explain why someone might not have a provisional licence, but that is an issue for another day.
I again ask the Minister to clarify and, if necessary, review the five-year wait and replace it with something more humane and more in line with punishments meted out for the serious offences. I ask the Minister to look at the exceptional circumstances clause in relation to the third or subsequent licence and make the provisional licence accessible. This would be in the interest of having people legally on the road, not sitting at home waiting for a bus, because in rural areas the wait can be long. Travel broadens the mind; perhaps the Minister would broaden the rules.