On the issue of the efficiency or inefficiency of the driving tester system, I begin by wishing Mr. Gay Byrne the best of luck in his appointment as chairman of the Road Safety Authority. I thank Mr. Eddie Shaw for his services as chief executive. I wish the chief executive designate Mr. Noel Brett every success in an absolutely critical area. Mr. Byrne has rightly identified as an immediate priority the scandal of 400,000 people driving with provisional driving licences, which means that one in five drivers on the roads have not successfully completed a driving test. It is obviously critical to the economy, our social fabric and to the country that an effective and efficient driver testing system be in operation.

It is scandalous that 130,500 people are now waiting on average 32 weeks to take a driving test. The delay varies from place to place: in Portlaoise it is 63 weeks, in Raheny it is 58 weeks and in Wicklow it is 50 weeks. Obviously driver testing is rightly a fundamental part of the Government's road safety programme. According to the Department of Transport, the backlog is due to a surge in applications between December 2000 and March 2003. The Government has identified outsourcing as a solution to the problem, which would be especially effective if the work were done during the summer months when the days are longer and more time is available. However, because of a clause in the Sustaining Progress agreement, outsourcing to deal with the inefficiency of the driver testing system is prohibited.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

Does the Taoiseach agree fundamentally that the current situation is unsustainable, that the Government must do something about it and that outsourcing is the one and only method to address the problem effectively? This means that the constraint in Sustaining Progress must be overcome. How does the Government intend to address the problem of 400,000 people driving with provisional licences and 130,500 people waiting for driving tests? An average of 50,000 young people aged between 18 and 20 come on stream each year, most of whom will apply for driving licences. How does the Taoiseach propose to deal with this fundamentally important issue, identified by Mr. Byrne yesterday, when he said he would walk away from the job if the matter was not addressed effectively by Government?

The driver-testing backlog is totally unacceptable and must be eliminated as quickly as possible. Each additional month that it takes has a negative impact on road safety. Driver-testing and road safety are directly linked as we have said time and time again and I have said it here. The problem is not just an industrial relations one. It affects people's lives as well. As Deputy Kenny knows the arbitration board in its adjudication pointed out repeatedly that it was not concerned with the merits of the dispute as to how the backlog of driving tests should be solved. However, it felt its continuance represented a potential threat to road safety and the board urged a resumption of discussions at which all opinions — it emphasised all opinions — should be considered with a view to ensuring that a solution is implemented without delay.

The Minister for Transport has gone to exceptional lengths to maximise the contribution that can be made by reducing this problem in the existing system and to try to use existing staff to the maximum. Despite bonus payments, additional recruitments and redeployment of existing civil servants, the backlog cannot be cleared quickly enough. In answer to the Deputy's point, I can see no alternative to contracting for extra resources on a temporary basis. In that context, I want to support the acknowledgement by the Minister for Transport that the staff of the Department, including the public servants who work in the Road Safety Authority, will continue to be the backbone of the service. Nobody is trying to dismantle or discontinue the service. The staff in question represent the backbone and the front line of the service. While they do the job as best they can, they cannot deal with the numbers which exist at present. In this case, the contracting of staff resources has been proposed as a temporary measure. The Minister does not intend to replace the existing staff by assigning their work to other people. There have been discussions between the Minister for Transport and the driver testing unions. The unions have been engaging with the Minister over the last week. The Minister has told me he hopes a satisfactory outcome will be reached. I acknowledge that the unions have engaged actively in the process of trying to find a resolution, even after the arbitration board issued its determination.

Is this not a case of the Government being unable to govern in the interests of the greater public? Will the Taoiseach assure the House he will ask the unions for an immediate derogation in respect of Sustaining Progress so this matter can be dealt with? I am quite sure everyone involved in the trade union movement is anxious to ensure human lives are saved on our roads. This matter cannot be dealt with at present because the proposed changes to the system are prohibited under Sustaining Progress.

The Government is unable to deal with a problem that has been identified. Some 400,000 people are driving on provisional licences. Some 130,000 people are waiting for driving tests. The Bacon report and the Goodbody report of 2001 measured the cost of the loss of one life on the roads as €2.8 million, when matters such as education, allowances and training are taken into account. The country will lose 35 years of productivity if a person unfortunately and tragically dies in a road accident at the age of 30. Over the next ten years, we need an additional 40,000 workers per year to keep the economy ticking over.

The implications of the Government's failure to take action in this regard are fourfold. First, some 400,000 people who do not have full licences have to pay extra insurance premiums, amounting to €23 million per annum. Second, many people cannot take up employment because they do not have full licences. Third, a social stigma is associated with not being deemed to be a qualified driver. Fourth, the inability of the system to deliver means that thousands of inexperienced drivers of all ages are on our roads.

The IT system that has been operating in Ballina since 1989 is a disgrace because it is unable to cope with this system. This fundamental health and safety issue is of importance in people's lives. The Government is unable to deliver, in the interests of consumers, an efficient and professional system of training and testing those who give certificates of competency to drivers. The employees of the outsourced contractor have been trained and are ready to work in this area. Will the Taoiseach seek an immediate derogation from the unions, under Sustaining Progress, to relieve the pressure in this area? Such action is needed if we are to reduce the waiting times of the 130,000 people who are waiting for driving tests and take action in respect of the 400,000 drivers who do not have full licences.

In this country, 11 people per 100,000 die on the roads, unfortunately. If we were in line with international best practice, just six people per 100,000 would die on the roads. If we could reduce this country's level of road deaths to that level, some 130 lives would be saved each year. In this instance, the Taoiseach should govern in the public interest.

As I have said previously, if just one person dies on the roads, that is one person too many. Some 399 people died on the roads last year, which is several hundred less than the number of people who died when there was a fraction of the current amount of vehicles on the roads. That does not detract from the Government's desire to minimise the number of people dying on the roads.

It is not a question of a derogation from Sustaining Progress. I think everybody on the union, staff and Government sides was surprised by the interpretation of the arbitration board in its findings. The Deputy has asked the Minister to engage with the trade union and staff sides to try to reach a resolution to this problem. The Government is already engaged in such discussions. I appreciate the willingness of the staff side to do that.

I think every public servant is in favour of increased flexibility in working arrangements and the elimination of rigidities and restrictive practices, with a view to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the public service, which are among the central themes in the modernisation of that service. I emphasise that the Minister is not trying to remove the driver testing service from the public service or abolish the jobs of the staff who have worked hard in the driver testing area over many years. The high numbers of learner drivers and people who want to do the driving test mean we need to introduce an outside contractor, at least in the short term. As Deputy Kenny said, a contractor is aware of the discussions which have taken place in recent years and is ready to operate in this area. We have engaged, in the interests of good industrial relations, with the fairly long process that has been a feature of this issue. We understand that we have to follow the system for dealing with public servants, even if it takes a long time.

We have tried to do everything we can to address the difficulty we are facing. As I have said, the Minister has gone to exceptional lengths to maximise what can be done within the system. We cannot deal with the problem within the system. We need to out-source and contract. We have the capacity and resources to do that, even on a temporary basis. We need to reach a conclusion in respect of industrial relations and we are trying to do that. We do not want to act in an arbitrary way as that would not be in the interests of good industrial relations practices. We will try to make progress. We are pleased that the unions have engaged with us in trying to reach a quick resolution to this problem.