There were red faces as the driving test results of our country’s transport ‘experts’ were revealed on City Edition, NewsTalk 106.

Paddy Pryle, a registered tester with the Irish Advanced Motoring Institute, was in studio to give the bad news: that all seven candidates– including Junior Transport Minister Ivor Callely and City Edition presenter Declan Carty– had failed their mock driving test!

The other candidates who took part were Fine Gael’s Olivia Mitchell, Labour’s Roisin Shortall, the Green Party’s Eamonn Ryan, Sinn Fein’s Sean Crowe and Senator Tom Morrissey of the Progressive Democrats.

The multi-party driving test challenge stemmed from a cheeky question put to Fine Gael Transport Spokesperson Olivia Mitchell by City Edition presenter Declan Carty earlier on this year on the show.

Reacting to the news, Fine Gael’s Olivia Mitchell gave her reasons as to why she might have failed:
“When I did the driving test there wasn’t even such a thing as a roundabout or a motorway or a dual carriageway. I made no preparation I have to say. After the disastrous beginning where I didn’t know how to open the bonnet, it was clear to me that I wasn’t going to pass this test.”

Eamonn Ryan of the Green Party admitted that he was overly-confident going into the test:
“I went in with my tail slightly up because I met Olivia on the way in and when I heard that she didn’tknow how to open up her bonnet I said to myself ‘I’m in with a chance here’.

“And then I met Sean Crowe as he was walking away from doing his and he looked as white as a sheet and then I thought Minister’s Callely’s feet ought not to touch the pedals anymore now that he’s a Minister and is being driven around. So I kind of saw it as a competitive thing where I’m representing my party and it’s looking good because Fine Gael can’t open the bonnet.”

Reacting to his failed test, Junior Transport Minister Ivor Callely said:

“I have to say I didn’t think that I was going into the full rigours of a full driving test.”
The Minister then joked that he could at least take some comfort in the fact that he has a chauffeur.