Fianna Fáil TD says learner drivers should be allowed drive a car unaccompanied
A FIANNA FÁIL TD has said he believes learner drivers should be allowed to drive without being accompanied in the car by a licenced driver.
Since 2018, it has been an offence for an unlicensed person to drive a vehicle unaccompanied.
Under the law, gardaí can seize a vehicle if a learner driver is discovered to be driving without a qualified driver present.
If caught driving unaccompanied, a learner driver faces an initial €160 fine and two penalty points.
If you allow a learner driver to drive your car unaccompanied, you could be fined up to €1,000.
The change in the law seven years ago was dubbed the 'Clancy Amendment' in recognition of Noel Clancy, who campaigned to have the law changed after his wife Geraldine and daughter Louise were killed in 2015 when their car was struck by a learner driver who was driving unaccompanied.
The Transport Minister at the time, Shane Ross said
: 'Once and for all we need to stamp out the entirely false notion that once someone has a learner permit they are free to drive as they wish. A learner permit is not a driving licence.'
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Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon during a debate on the long wait times for learners to get a driving test, Fianna Fáil's Cathal Crowe said:
'I believe learner drivers should be allowed to drive without someone accompanying them in the car. I live in a rural county and west of Ennis there is no Luas line, no DART and no public transport of any significance.'
He went on to state students can't afford on-campus student accommodation meaning parents have to buy a car for their son or daughter so they can drive to and from college every day.
Crowe said young people sometimes bring other students who live in the catchment area to the college campus with them.
'Criminalising young people'
'We are criminalising all of these young people with the requirement that they must have an accompanying driver in the car with them. It is unacceptable. There is no public transport network and this criterion is unacceptable.
'It is criminalising a lot of young people who just cannot have that college experience on campus. They are living at home and using their car to get in and out,' he said.
The Fianna Fáil TD said there must be a 'smarter' or more 'sensible way' to deal with the matter, stating that instead insurance companies should have to require learner drivers to not exceed a certain speed.
'Surely that is the way to have controls on how they drive rather than this punitive rule requiring them to always have an accompanying driver in the car with them, which is not realistic,' he said.
'If we were to really apply the spirit of that law in a rural area, the mom or dad would have to take time off work to drive their child to college and sit in the car while they attend eight hours of lectures before driving home. It just does not work in practice. The reality is that we are criminalising many young people every day with this,' he said.
'No excuse'
At odds with Crowe, Fine Gael TD Emer Currie said there is no excuse for unaccompanied learner drivers being on the road.
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A number of TDs spoke today about the lengthy wait time for driving test appointments, which they said are preventing people from taking up employment in some cases.
Speaking during a Dáil debate on the issue, Minister of State Sean Canney said the average waiting time for driving tests is now 27 weeks, a figure he said has risen significantly in part due to a 'backlog of tests'.
He said the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has now told him that it plans to reduce waiting times to 10 weeks by September, and that in order to reach this target he will seek a regular update every two weeks over the coming months.
The RSA has committed to reduce the wait time to 22 weeks by end May and to 18 weeks at end June.
He also said the RSA has been sanctioned to recruit up to 200 more driving test examiners, a figure he said is double that of two years ago.
Canney said the provision of a timely and efficient driver testing service is a key priority for him.
'The experience of learner drivers seeking a driver test over the last number of years has been unacceptable and the service being offered needs to be greatly improved as soon as possible,' he said.
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