The Minister for Transport has appealed to driving-test applicants to "have a little patience" with delays in scheduling. The current test backlog is 130,000. At the same time, however, Mr Brennan confirmed that, if drivers do not have a licence, "they are driving illegally".
The Minister also stressed that motorists caught speeding will not avoid penalty points, regardless of the difficulties being experienced with the implementation of the new scheme. Some 8,289 penalty-point notices had been issued since the system was introduced. The Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice had assured him of their commitment to implement the new system after the leaking of a report about difficulties with its implementation. These problems were being "ironed out", the Minister said.
He told Mr Paul Connaughton (FG, Galway East) during transport questions that he had a "general sense of the pressure the Garda were under in this regard" and he knew that they were "doing their best".
On the driving test backlog, Mr Connaughton expressed anger that "countless thousands" of young people were unable to drive to work because they were not legally entitled to drive a car.
The Minister said that technical difficulties in the IT system had been resolved and that an overtime package now in place for testers would mean an extra 40,000 tests by the end of the year.
The current estimated "all-in" cost of the Dublin port tunnel is €625 million. The original tender price for construction only was €449 million in June 2000, said Mr Brennan. Land and property compensation and other costs meant a further €176 million rise. When the tunnel was first proposed in 1994 the estimate was €132 million, but Mr Brennan said that was shorter, narrower and not as deep.
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