Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for all aspects of the National Driver Testing Service. As such, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct, detailed reply on the issues raised.
Regarding driver testing delays more generally, the service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand. Following a request from the RSA for additional resources, last March my Department gave approval for the recruitment of up to 75 additional driver testers. This brings the current total number of sanctioned driver tester posts to 205, which is more than double the 100 sanctioned testing posts in June 2022.
The first tranche of new recruits was 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 across the driver testing service, with additional testing capacity deployed to the 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 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.
I do not have plans to instruct the RSA to make a changes to the learner permit process, temporary or otherwise. A person applying for a third learner permit will have been a learner driver for four years. This matter is the subject of a wider and more comprehensive review at present by my Department and the RSA.
The Deputy should be assured that the Authority will always make themselves available to the Oireachtas upon invitation from the Committee on Transport and Communications, as they have done on a number of times in the last year.
