Vol. 522 No. 4
23 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the current average waiting time for driving tests; the centre with the longest waiting period; the steps that are being taken to reduce waiting times; the steps that are being taken to address the concerns of driving testers which led to the recent threat of industrial action; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18652/00]
The national average waiting time for a driving test is 21 weeks, a reduction of 13 weeks relative to early 1999. The longest, as distinct from average, waiting time obtaining at any test centre is at Finglas-Raheny, which has a longest waiting period of 46 weeks. However, applicants who require a test for urgent reasons are being given earlier appointments; about 38% of applicants are tested within 15 weeks.
Applications for driving tests are now running at record levels, driven by exceptional conditions of economic growth. Applications this year are expected to be at least 10% higher than in 1999 which saw a record 154,000 test applications made to my Department, compared to 118,000 applications in 1997. Very significant additional resources have already been allocated to the driver testing service, which now numbers 99 testers compared to 66 in 1998. Together with recent productivity agreements and Saturday working, this has increased the testing capacity of the service by over 90,000 tests to about 200,000 tests annually. Two new test centres have been provided in Tallaght and Raheny. Retired testers are now being employed and additional testers recruited to cope with the increased demand. I am determined to bring progressive and substantial improvement to the quality of the driving test service provided to the public and, in particular, to end present excessive and unacceptable waiting times.
Extensive discussions have taken place with the driver testers' branch, IMPACT, with a view to resolving industrial relations issues and accelerating measures to reduce driving test waiting times. An agreement on these matters has been concluded through this process and has been recommended by the union to the membership. This includes a significant increase in the size of the permanent tester corps, a one-off productivity bonus for a nine month period and the facility to recruit further contract testers as necessary.
My Department will seek to implement these measures, to the benefit of our customers and testers, without delay.
