Drogheda is the largest town in Ireland and it has the longest waiting list in the country for driving tests. If you apply for a test today, it will be 27 November before you get an invitation to formally apply and 2024 before you sit your test. That compares badly with Dundalk, where the waiting time is three months, Navan, where the waiting time is two months, and Monaghan, where the waiting time is less than two months.

The Road Safety Authority, RSA, has promised to establish a permanent test centre in Drogheda but has failed to do so despite the many suitable proposals that have been made. Will the Taoiseach raise this as a matter of urgency so that Drogheda people can be treated the same as anybody else in the country and can get a driving test in an appropriate amount of time?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which I know will be of real interest to people in the greater Drogheda area, in wider County Louth and in County Meath. The RSA has statutory responsibility for all aspects of the national driving test. The test centre in Marian Park, Drogheda, is due to close by the end of February when the lease on the site expires. The authority has reviewed several options in the area but to date has not found a suitable alternative location to host a test centre. The RSA continues to investigate locations to provide the Drogheda area with a better driver testing service.

Sanction has now been given to increase the number of driver testers from 100 to 130. It is hoped that, when those people are hired, we will see an improvement in waiting times.