Ireland: Provisional Licence Law Change -Noel Brett, CEO of the Road Safety Authority discusses implications

Embedded from RTE.IE

Click on player to listen to the full interview.
The law requiring learner drivers on a second provisional licence to be accompanied by a fully qualified driver comes into effect from midnight tonight.
The change in the driving licence system, announced by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey last year, affects up to 92,000 people.
Holders of all other provisional licences are already required to be accompanied.
Drivers may only get a third or later provisional licence if they can show that they have taken a driving test within the previous two years....(RTE )

According to Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio News At One programme Assistant Garda Commissioner Eddie Rock has stated that the guards " Will be applying the law in an appropriate and proportional manner".

TNSmrbi Poll-FF support collapses

• Fianna Fáil 33% - 9%
• Fine Gael 31%, + 4%
• Labour 15%+5 %
• Sinn Féin 7% +0%
• PDs 2% -1%
• the Greens 5% +0%
• Independents and others 7%+0%
  On satisfaction ratings, 37% feel the Government is doing a good job, down 15 points on the last comparable poll.

These results mirror feeling on the ground.The Government's attempt to tighten restrictions on some provisional licence holders and the announcement of big pay hikes for the Taoiseach and his ministers smack of a Government beginning to lose touch with reality.

The attempt to clamp down on provisional licence holders -whilst correct in principle-was ill conceived and unjust. If implemented it would have triggered a massive revolt. Many drivers faced the prospect of ignoring the law if they wished to continue in employment. The tentacles of this law would have extended into most households in the country. Young children, the old and the seriously ill would also have been affected through a lack of transport. It is highly unlikely that waiting lists for driving tests will have been removed in eight months. Expect another u-turn in June 2008.

The pay hikes further cemented the feeling that the Government was impervious to public opinion. Its moral authority has been dented. Ministers who have benefited from large pay hikes cannot with any semblance of credibility seek public expenditure cuts.

Luckily for the Government the next General Election will probably take place in 2012. The electorate may vent its spleen in the Euro and Local Elections in 2009. FF fared so poorly in the 2004 Local Elections that it can hardly fare much worse in 2009.

The challenge for FG is to consolidate its support. It must win 30%-32% of the vote in the next General Election if it wishes to smash the FF grip on power. In this poll it is just 2% behind FF. However it is unlikely that FF will drop to 33% in the next General Election. FG must wrest support from both the Greens and FF if it wishes to lead the next Government. Labour must take support from Sinn Fein and the Greens. The support for the Greens has remained at 5% because they are in a honeymoon period. It may soon wither away.The PD support is abysmal. PD county councillors may begin to jump ship and join FF and FG in an effort to save their political careers.

Ireland-Provisional licence rules deferred until June 30th 2008

Minister Dempsey said on RTÉ's This Week programme that he was deferring the introduction of the accompanied driver provision until 30 June 2008. The original announcement-allowing provisional drivers four days to put alternatives in place- provided clear cut evidence that the Government was out of touch on this issue. The incipient revolt frightened the Minister and Government.This is a major blow for Noel Dempsey's leadership ambitions. Perhaps he should heed the following advice: Festina Lente.

Ireland-Provisional Licence debacle

Once more Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey finds himself in the eye of a storm. He announced yesterday that all provisional drivers, including those on their second provisional, must be accompanied by a driver who has held a full licence for a minimum of two years.The penalties for breaching this are a fine of up to €1,000 and possible disqualification from driving. The same penalties will apply to provisional drivers who do not display an L-plate.
In principle this is a good idea. However it is impractical and unjust in the short term. The average waiting time for a driving test is eighteen weeks. Unfortunately waiting times of five months or more are not unknown.

Fine Gael Road Safety Spokesman Shane McEntee TD has called on the Government to implement provisional driving licence reforms only when the driving test backlog has been removed, as Martin Cullen argued when he was Transport Minister. Deputy McEntee said the Government had had ten years to implement an overhaul of the driving licence regime but is now telling 400,000 provisional licence holders they have just four days to comply with the new regulations.

"Noel Dempsey's proposals to reform the provisional driving licence regime are unworkable and unreasonable because they give drivers no time to make alternative arrangements, let alone take a driving test..."
This statement from Shane McEntee encapsulates the problem quite nicely.

Today Mr Dempsey has further compounded the problem and added to the confusion. He said today that although the law would come into effect next Tuesday, gardaí would take a measured approach to enforcement "using discretion and common sense as opposed to automatic prosecution".
This is a debacle from which the Minister may not recover.