Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht a cheist ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. Aontaím leis go ndéanfaimid ár ndícheall chun feabhsú agus dul chun cinn a dhéanamh ar son na ndaoine i nDún Laoghaire. I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Deputy will be aware that under the Road Safety Authority Act, the RSA has statutory responsibility for this. We all know that. Reducing driver testing wait times has been a key priority for the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and me, and I thank Deputy Ward for acknowledging that there has been progress across the board. In that regard, last May the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, directed the RSA to produce and publish a service recovery plan to return the national average wait time to ten weeks by the beginning of September 2025. Nationally, that has been achieved, but that is little consolation for people in Dún Laoghaire. The current national average waiting time is now 11.5 weeks, slightly above the SLA of ten weeks. I am informed by the RSA that it continues to focus on addressing centres with higher demand and wait times. The latest information provided to me by the RSA, in advance of the Deputy's question, indicates that as of 7 March the average waiting time for a driving test in Dún Laoghaire-Deansgrange was 21 weeks. I agree with the Deputy that that is not acceptable. It does mark a significant improvement on 35 weeks but it is still well above the target ten-week average wait time. I expect the RSA to continue to work to bring the wait time in this centre into line with the ten-week target as soon as possible. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, has met with RSA senior management regularly on their delivery of the driver testing service recovery plan over recent months and he has emphasised the importance of opening new testing locations to relieve pressures in high-demand areas. I am informed by the authority that the new test centre in Sandyford is at the final stages of preparation and the assigned testers are presently deployed to a nearby centre in readiness for its opening while ensuring testing volumes continue to be managed effectively. I understand, however, that the RSA is just one party to the agreement of leases and that private landlords must also go through their due diligence and assurance processes. I will be very straight with the Deputy. I have a degree of frustration in putting this answer on the floor because we have been aware of this issue with regard to the new test centre for some time. On foot of the Deputy's intervention this evening, I will personally make contact with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. I will see him in the morning. We need to see how we can expedite this. The new centre in Sandyford will help to relieve some of the pressure on Dún Laoghaire, but if we do not have a firm date for when that is to be open, it is all very well to say that. This needs to be concluded as soon as possible. As the Deputy mentioned, in September we conveyed sanction for an additional 70 driver testing posts on a permanent basis, bringing the total permanent sanction to 200, which represents a doubling of posts since June 2022. As of 7 March, 194 testers were in place, and that again is a big increase. As the Deputy rightly said, there are nine driver testers based in the Dún Laoghaire-Deansgrange test centre. As regards the point the Deputy made about the number of tests we are getting through, which is not in any way to criticise the work being done, we have to see what the reason for that is, where there is a tripling of resources but not a tripling of output. There can be good reasons for that, so I want to look into that. The Deputy highlighted a very serious issue whereby this driver testing centre is way beyond the agreed national SLA of ten weeks and even on the current average now of 11.5 weeks. I will raise this directly with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. I will speak to the RSA myself on foot of Deputy Ward's question.

Sentiment score: 0.17

The RSA has indicated that overtime and bank holiday testing will continue throughout the course of this year. As the hour changes later this month, we can look at whether there is potential to do that further. In relation to the assignment of those new testers who will be going to the Sandyford centre, I will ask that specific question as to whether they can be used in the interim period. I know there is a training element where they are at the moment. I will certainly check that. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. He has done a really good job on this, and I assure Deputy Ward that he has met with the RSA senior management regularly. We were able to pull this back nationally to about ten weeks and now it is up to 11.5 weeks, so we have to watch that trend. There has been a significant increase in applications nationwide, with about 25% more applications received by the end of February compared with the same period last year. We also see an increase in applications across the board, but there has specifically been a rise in demand for tests from holders of a third or subsequent learner permit. I think that is on foot of the changes the Government will bring forward. That in itself is to be welcomed but it certainly puts more pressure on the system. In summation, I will raise these matters directly with the RSA on the Deputy's behalf. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, tomorrow specifically about this to see what focus can be given, particularly for this centre, and - again, not in any way to criticise the good work that has been done by those who are providing the tests - why this centre is so out of kilter with the national average. That needs to be looked at and addressed, and I will revert directly to the Deputy.

Sentiment score: 0.14

I thank Deputy Whitmore for the opportunity to discuss bus services and the future expansion of bus services in Wicklow. In many instances, good or very good services are being provided but obviously this is not the case with the L2 service, given what Deputy Whitmore has outlined. I will get to that specifically. Deputy Whitmore knows that, as Minister, I am responsible for policy and overall funding for public transport and I am not involved in day-to-day operations. Having said that, feedback like this is important. I do not welcome it, though, in the sense that I would rather there were not instances like this. Everyone will understand that from time to time issues and matters arise. Last year, we saw record-breaking numbers of PSO public transport journeys throughout the country. People are responding but what they need is information with regard to relying on particular bus services. I am struck by what Deputy Whitmore said about 13 March, when eight buses did not show up. That is wholly unacceptable. There could be an issue from time to time with a driver being sick and no relief driver being available, but it then occurred again on St. Patrick's Day. I will make inquiries directly about the L2 service, which I will get to in a moment. I am very focused on increasing the number of people using public transport across all our operators, including bus services across the country, Local Link with which we have had great success, intercity services and rail. We are seeing people respond to this. In the budget for 2026, we secured €940 million funding for public service obligation routes and TFI services received significant funding of €658 million. We are looking to cover both of these areas and we have a 46% increase in the PSO. Specifically regarding the L2 service and the Go-Ahead contract between Glendalough and Bray, from what Deputy Whitmore has said and from my research in advance of answering the question, I appreciate that customers have experienced significant difficulties with regard to cancellation and reliability. This has now been acknowledged by the operator. It told me there were a number of factors, primarily fleet availability and staffing. The National Transport Authority has been meeting Go-Ahead on a weekly basis to review performance and work with it to develop a plan to resolve the issues. It has advised me that performance has improved in recent weeks.

Sentiment score: 0.16

That is what I have been told but I have taken down the examples Deputy Whitmore has given me. Go-Ahead said that availability of fleet and staff has greatly reduced the number of lost kilometres being experienced on the route. The company has recruited a number of mechanics from overseas, which has assisted in addressing fleet reliability issues, while the number of drivers available to operate services also continues to improve. There has been strong momentum in March and the figures I have are that the L2 service has been operating at 98.33% of its contracted kilometres to date, exceeding key performance indicator, KPI, targets. Based on what Deputy Whitmore has said, we will certainly go back and check the figures but these are independent figures given to me. Go-Ahead has also completed an internal review of route adherence following reports of the service not serving Sea Road on a small number of occasions, and immediate corrective actions have been implemented. There has been no recurring issue since these actions were taken. I am telling Deputy Whitmore as I have it. If she has information to the contrary, I will take it directly to the NTA. I have a real frustration with ghost buses and buses not showing up. There have been improvements in recent months countrywide but there are still some areas where there appear to be specific issues with specific routes. I continue to raise this with the NTA and bus operators. I will raise the specific matters that Deputy Whitmore has raised. I am told there has been an improvement but Deputy Whitmore is telling me there has not. We will raise the matter with the NTA and Go-Ahead.

Sentiment score: 0.04

I will chase up the 199 route. I do not have an update on it as it was not part of the question. The Deputy will understand that. I welcome feedback from all Deputies, Government or Opposition, in relation to public transport. We have made significant advances over the last five years. Public transport journey numbers bear out that people are responding to it. Of course, we are not going to resolve issues in the course of one year, but we are investing more in public transport than we have ever done before. There is very significant infrastructure investment and fleet investment too. The service elements, particularly around no-shows and reliability of service, are incredibly frustrating to passengers. What our bus operators need to understand is that these are just passengers, but customers. The customer has to be at the centre of everything we do. The automatic vehicle location system will help greatly in that regard. That will be rolled out during this year and early next year. It will provide real-time data and an upgrade of the app. When a bus is cancelled or delayed, if people know that, they can arrange alternatives. It is where a bus still shows on an app as ag teacht when it is not, that is a real problem for people. The Deputy might give me the details specifically around the L2 service because the information that I have and that I prepared for in advance of this answer is contrary to what she said. Based on what I have been told, I have no reason to disbelieve that there have been improvements over the period since these matters were raised. However, the Deputy has given me two specific dates on which there were problems. If there are more, we need to know about it. I ask the Deputy to please feed any such information into me and the Department and I will take the matters up directly with the NTA and revert to her. I do not have an update on the 199 route, which is the Glendalough and Bray route. I will get an update for the Deputy and come back to her.

Sentiment score: -0.01