Vol. 576 No. 1
276 Mr. Cregan asked the Minister for Transport the number of driver testers currently employed; the plans he has to recruit more; if a panel is currently being worked on; when new positions will be advertised; if interested applicants can have their interest recorded in advance; and if so, the way in which it can be done. [29267/03]
The authorised number of driver testers, including a chief tester and supervisory testers, is 130. A panel for driver testers was formed in 1998 after the Civil Service Commission held a competition for this position. This panel has now been exhausted. While my Department has no immediate plans to initiate a competition for driver testers, the position is reviewed regularly having regard to current and future requirements of the driver testing service.
Recruitment to these positions is carried out centrally by the Office of the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners and persons can register their interest on the www.publicjobs.iewebsite. Once a person registers his interest, he will be notified automatically when a competition is announced. Any proposed competition will also be advertised in the Irish Independent on a Thursday or in The Irish Times on a Friday. In order to deal with the increased level of demand for driving tests my Department, following consultation with the Department of Finance, introduced a bonus scheme in June 2003. The scheme provided for bonus payments per additional test conducted with payment conditional on delivery of a minimum number of additional tests. In addition, my Department has recruited eight retired driver testers who commenced testing with effect from 13 October.
