On behalf of the people of County Kerry, I wish to state how sorry we all were to hear about the two gardaí who were injured yesterday doing an honest day's work.

With regard to all of the young people who are waiting to sit their theory tests, when the online portal went live last night, there was absolute chaos. People are being told that they will get appointments in a year or two. That is crazy stuff. These are young people who want to get on the road. Their work is necessary. I said it last week when we raised the same issue that there are young people in the farming sector who want to be able to draw in silage, save crops and make hay and silage. There are youngsters who want to go out and do many different types of work. They are all essential workers. If they are going to work in a local shop that might be located five, six or ten miles away, that is essential work. On behalf of the young people of Ireland, I plead with the Taoiseach to put the necessary resources in place to allow them to pass their theory tests immediately. Otherwise, they will be waiting months and, perhaps, as I stated, as long as two years.

As I stated earlier, a limited number of places were made available on the pilot scheme that was announced and initiated by the Road Safety Authority. It has begun offering driving theory tests online on a pilot basis. It will offer in excess of 3,000 online tests in June and aims to increase this in the coming months. The aim is to ramp up numbers as quickly as we possibly can. We do realise the pressing nature of this issue.

On the same issue, it is hugely important that learner drivers can get the opportunity to do their theory tests and get on with having lessons and enjoying the summer. Overall, almost 150,000 people have had their tests repeatedly rescheduled throughout the year. Facing into the summer holidays, there is a real opportunity for people to take the test or have driving lessons and get the on-road practice. There needs to be a reopening of in-centre testing. A date must be set for that as quickly as possible. The opening of the online portal in the past number of hours is a very positive move. However, the numbers on the pilot are fairly limited. Looking at the lengthy delays in respect of this matter, there needs to be a greater capacity to do online tests. I ask the Taoiseach to raise with the Minister for Transport the necessity of quickly ramping up the online option. The system is already booked solid. There are no slots available today. Capacity needs to be ramped up as quickly as possible in order to give drivers the opportunity to get on the road and get their lessons done.

I thank the Deputy and others for raising this most important issue. He made a good point that the summer months represent a very good opportunity to get moving on this issue. I stated that in excess of 3,000 online tests will be offered by the Road Safety Authority in June. The authority is also working to increase capacity in its physical testing centres, a matter to which the Deputy also referred. This would see the number of tests in centres increase from an average of approximately 15,000 tests per month prior to Covid, and will build up to 50,000 per month on a gradual basis once the service reopens.

We will make further announcements at the end of the week in respect of the ongoing reopening of society. Covid-19 has had the impact here, not Government or anybody else. Therefore, the challenge is how quickly we can get this back up and running, given that it is very important for young people who are seeking employment and who just generally want to be able to get on with the process of learning to drive.