Niamh Smyth
Question:250. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Transport the reason a person (details supplied) is waiting so long for a driving test; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37307/23]
View answerMonday, 11 September 2023
Questions (250)
Written answers
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driving Test service. This includes test applications and scheduling matters. Neither I nor my Department have the powers to intervene in individual cases.
I would like to assure you that my Department is working closely with the Authority on addressing the driver testing waiting times, which is an issue of great concern across the state. The service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand due to a number of factors including an increase in learner permits in circulation, increased capacity in the Driver Theory Test and an increase in Approved Driving Instructors' capacity to deliver lessons to learner drivers.
The Authority has reviewed the demand and capacity of the driver testing service and following a request for additional resources in March 2023, my Department gave approval for the recruitment of up to 75 driver testers. This brings the total number of sanctioned driver tester posts to just over 200.
The recruitment is well underway and being managed by the Authority. It is expected that once these additional driver testers are trained and deployed, the backlog for driver testing services will start to reduce from October 2023. The additional testers will be assigned to fill current vacancies and otherwise allocated to centres with the highest demand for tests.