Driving test delays
Deputy Collins said constituents were waiting months for driving tests and missing job opportunities because rural transport options are poor. The Tánaiste acknowledged the challenge, said he would ask the Minister to respond, and noted test slot numbers have increased but waiting times remain too long.
My office has been inundated with requests from constituents seeking assistance in expediting their driving tests. These are mostly young people and they are waiting ten months or more for a driving test. Many of these have secured job offers but are unable to accept them due to the lack of transportation in rural Ireland. We do not have a frequent bus service, the Luas or regularly available taxis, as urban areas do. Our young people are effectively stranded without access to a car and their parents' work schedules often do not allow for logistical support. We were informed that additional testers would be deployed, yet I am not aware of any new testers in Skibbereen in west Cork. As a solution, we could consider temporarily converting driving instructors into testers. Surely this would be a feasible solution or does the Government have a long-term strategy that is being considered to prevent such backlogs from occurring in the future? Immediate and effective measures are required to address this backlog and support our constituents in their daily lives.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for the interesting suggestion he offered. I will ask the Minister to respond to it. There is no doubt that this is a serious issue. Since the end of 2024, the good news is that the RSA has been providing a monthly average of 19,111 test slots. This is up from a monthly average in the previous year of 18,300. However, let us not fool ourselves; I fully accept that a serious challenge exists. The waiting time is meant to be ten weeks. That is the commitment that was given but in some parts of the country I hear that it can be up to 22 weeks, on average, for many people. The good news is that we are in the process of trying to employ extra testers. My understanding is that the Department sanctioned 70 permanent additional driver testing posts. This would bring the permanent sanction to 200. That is a doubling of the number of posts since 2022. As a quid pro quo, the RSA has been asked to put in place a plan to restore waiting times to ten weeks. I am told that recruitment is under way for those extra testers. I am told that 300 applicants have been brought through to the final assessment stage.