Analysis:Dempsey has opted for a commonsense' approach to licences, writes Stephen Collins, Political Editor.
One of the fastest U-turns in political history was executed yesterday by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey as Fianna Fáil TDs up and down the country felt the outrage of voters over the plan to start prosecuting drivers with provisional licences from midnight on Monday, a move formally announced in yesterday's newspapers
The Minister responded to pleas from party colleagues, his partners in Government and members of the public by announcing that while the law would come into effect on Tuesday, gardaí would take a measured approach to enforcement, "using discretion and common sense as opposed to automatic prosecution".
While he denied that his clarification of the position represented a U-turn, there is no escaping the fact that he had announced the previous day 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.
The scale of the public anger at the move caught the Minister and his Government colleagues completely by surprise.
One reason for that is that they had only reckoned on 120,000 drivers on second provisional licences being affected. However the fact of the matter is that another 300,000 or so people, many on their third or subsequent provisional licences, have been driving on their own in the belief that they were entitled to do so.
The fundamental reason for the negative public reaction is the deep unhappiness at the driver-testing system whose inadequacies have led to a backlog of people waiting to take the tests.
Despite some improvements over the past year, there is still a long delay between the time a driver applies for a test and the date on which it can be taken. It means in a great many cases that second licences have expired by the time the test comes around.
The scale of the reaction was demonstrated by the fact that the Green Party yesterday called for a longer lead-in time for the introduction of the regulations.
The party's transport spokesman, Ciaran Cuffe, announced that he had written to the Minister suggesting a longer timeframe, coupled with a reduction in test waiting times.
In their short time in Government the Greens have managed to avoid shows of public disunity over issues like the Taoiseach's tribunal evidence, the M3 motorway near Tara, the EU reform treaty or diverging views on incineration.
The fact that the party went public on the provisional licence issue is a reflection of the depth of public disquiet at the move.
Fianna Fáil TD and former minister Mary O'Rourke also reflected the mood, telling Eamon Keane on Newstalk that she was confused about the initial announcement and the subsequent rowback.
"There's mayhem. And mostly I'm hearing from mums who bring children to handicapped schools, schools which are catering for young children with a disability.
"And they've applied for their licence, and they haven't got their date. So who brings their child to school? I don't know how, and they don't know."
She went on to address the issue of the queue for driving tests.
"It's going to be 400,000 people who might not be able to get to work. I'd say we'd all feel that pretty sharply. Yes, if you've applied for your licence and you're waiting to be called, I think certainly you should be allowed to continue with your provisional. Okay, if you don't make the grade when you do the test, that's another category altogether."
O'Rourke said it would be unfair to penalise people because of the system. "They can't be penalised because of the system; because the testers haven't been available. How could they be penalised for that? So I think it's fine in principle, but the working out of it is a bit more dubious, so we'll see what's emerging."
On RTÉ radio Dempsey told Seán O'Rourke he was suggesting that for a period of a few months gardaí would concentrate on warning and informing the public rather than enforcing the new law. He pointed to the approach taken to enforcing the mobile phone ban as an example of this tactic.
The Minister was also emphatic that the new regulations would have no impact on a driver's insurance.
The upshot of the controversy is that it will be almost impossible to deal with the road-safety issues surrounding provisional licence holders until the driver testing system is brought into the 21st century.
That the Government has not been able to sort it out over the past 20 years means the omens for an early solution are not good.