Late last year, I raised the issue of delays in driving tests in County Kerry, especially in Killarney and Tralee. I thank the Taoiseach for his intervention at that time. Things improved then but they are now worse than ever. Looking forward, it seems we have a six-month waiting time to get a driving test. Essential workers who can provide a letter saying the driving test is for an essential need will be accommodated. The problem, however, is that driver testers are sending people home even when a slot is available, deeming that the need is not essential. We must deal with the word "essential". If testers are able to carry out some tests, they should be doing all of them.

I thank the Deputy. His time is up.

People in places like Valentia Island, Ballinskelligs, Brosna or Gneeveguilla are left stranded without a licence and cannot go to work.

The Deputy has made his point.

I ask the Taoiseach to intervene again.

I call Deputy Martin Browne on the same matter.

There are massive waiting lists all over the country, especially in County Tipperary, for driving tests and theory tests. Officials in the Department or someone else need to get their finger out. Young people are looking for theory and driving tests to allow them to go to work but the tests are not happening. The Government needs to start making progress on that as quickly as possible.

I emphasise the problem this is causing on the ground. People are suffering distress due to waiting. The chaos that will ensue when things open up will be unbelievable. The Taoiseach must put measures in place now to deal with this problem. It is probably one of the most common issues on which I receive calls every day. I imagine it is the same for an awful lot of Deputies in this House. I ask the Taoiseach and the Department to tackle this issue head-on and try to give people a bit of comfort that they will be called for a test.

On driving tests, the biggest problem is that the number of testers being taken on will not be sufficient. It is proposed to take on 140 testers who will do six tests per day. Even if we had a further 40 testers and all testers doing eight tests per day, the extra 180 testers would do 1,400 tests per day and it would still take a year to clear the waiting list of 64,000. More testers are needed. We need a plan of action so that when we come out of level 5, we will have enough testers in place to ensure we can get tests done quickly. Young drivers need to get their driving test, even in terms of insurance costs.

I understand the issue raised by the Deputies but we are in the middle of a global pandemic. There is no easy answer to this. Provision was made for people who need tests for essential purposes and those involved in essential services and so forth. Additional staff have been hired. Some 40 temporary driver testers have been hired and 36 who were approved for retention were rehired in 2020. Further recruitment is going on. Waiting times have increased significantly. According to the Department, people applying today now face a potential waiting time of 25 weeks. My sense is that this is a challenging issue and will remain so for some time because of the changing nature of the virus and the arrival of the variant. I have said for a number of weeks that the variant will have an impact on many of areas of life given the higher level of transmission and transmissibility. We must get that into our heads in terms of how we roll out services. It creates the kinds of challenges to which the Deputies have referred. These issues will not be resolved simply.

That concludes questions on promised legislation. The 20 or more Deputies not reached today will be given priority tomorrow.