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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 20 Mar 2002

Vol. 550 No. 4

Written Answers. - Driving Tests.

Nora Owen

Question:

500 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of people who are awaiting driving tests in each area of the country; the length of the waiting time; the number of testers in each centre to date as compared to January 2001; and the number of provisional licences which are in existence. [9431/02]

The number of driving test applications on hand, the average waiting times and the number of driver testers serving at each test centre are set out in the following table.

Some 50,801 persons are now on the waiting list for a driving test. Of these, 17,495 have been given test appointments; 11,704 have indicated that they are not currently available to be tested and 21,602 are awaiting a test appointment. The average waiting time for a test nationally is 12 weeks.

The number of driver testers has increased from 113 in January 2001 to 119 in January 2002. Driver testers are headquartered in a number of centres in each region and are deployed to other test centres in the region as the demand for tests requires.

It is estimated that the number of provisional licences at the end of 2001 was 325,000.

Applications and Average Weeks Waiting on – 15/3/02

Applications

Average

Tester

Tester

Centre

On

Weeks

Numbers

Numbers

Hand

Waiting

Jan-2001

Jan-2002

North Leinster

Finglas

4,265

10

18

17

Dundalk

1,401

15

Mullingar

725

9

Navan

1,686

16

1

1

Raheny

2,123

6

10

10

Applications

Average

Tester

Tester

Centre

On

Weeks

Numbers

Numbers

Hand

Waiting

Jan-2001

Jan-2002

South Leinster

Churchtown/Rathgar

4,602

11

17

15

Gorey

578

6

Naas

2,084

15

2

2

Tullamore

679

7

Wicklow

853

15

Tallaght

3,189

13

6

11

West

Athlone

388

7

1

2

Birr

386

11

Castlebar

1,298

19

4

3

Clifden

187

7

Ennis

452

6

2

2

Galway

1632

13

4

6

Loughrea

578

14

1

2

Roscommon

535

13

Tuam

525

11

North West

Ballina

618

13

Buncrana

323

19

Carrick-on-Shannon

562

12

1

1

Cavan

965

19

2

2

Donegal

691

18

Letterkenny

820

9

3

3

Longford

507

18

Monaghan

669

13

1

1

Sligo

980

17

2

4

South East

Carlow

916

12

1

1

Clonmel

660

8

2

2

Dungarvan

525

15

Kilkenny

998

14

3

3

Nenagh

372

11

Portlaoise

662

13

1

1

Thurles

430

12

Tipperary

360

14

Waterford

1,448

14

4

4

Wexford

1,168

13

4

4

South West

Cork

3,151

7

14

14

Killarney

698

11

1

1

Kilrush

286

14

Limerick

1611

10

6

5

Mallow

742

9

Newcastle West

564

8

Shannon

542

19

Skibbereen

628

8

Tralee

739

8

2

2

Overall Total

50,801

12

113

119

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