Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
242. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Transport if he is aware that the RSA has informed seven driving testers that their temporary contracts will not be renewed next month despite driving test waiting times remaining unacceptably high; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1211/24]
View answer243. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Transport if he will sanction a new permanent contract competition for driver testers for the Road Safety Authority in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1212/24]
View answer281. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Transport the reason seven driving testers are being made redundant by the RSA in February and March this year, particularly given the current backlogs; the reason these driving testers have not been given permanent contracts to date despite being employed by the RSA as driving testers for three years; to list the areas where redundancies are being made in 2024 together with the waiting lists in those areas; if he will urgently review this issue to avoid further backlogs particularly when Government policy is to increase the number of tests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1511/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 242, 243 and 281 together.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for all aspects of the National Driving Test service. As the employer of driver testers, contractual terms are a matter for the RSA I have therefore referred part of the question to the Authority for direct reply. I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a reply is not received within 10 day.
Regarding driver testing delays, the service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand. Anticipating ongoing demand pressures and following a request for additional resources last year, my Department gave approval for the recruitment of up to 75 additional driver testers. This brings the total number of sanctioned driver tester posts to 205 in 2023, which is more than double the 100 sanctioned testing posts in June 2022.
The first tranche of new recruits were deployed last September and the national average waiting time for invitation to test has been decreasing since then. By the end of 2023 there was an increase of 41 driver testers allocated across the driver testing service with a focus on geographical areas with the longest waiting times and highest demand for tests.
Sanction remains in place for the Authority to increase the number of testers on temporary contracts to further alleviate current pressures on the service. My Department is working closely with the Authority to monitor demand and capacity requirements of the driver testing service to ensure it meets the agreed service level of average wait times of 10 weeks, which the Authority expects to achieve by mid-2024.
