Driver Test

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 March 2024

Thursday, 21 March 2024

Questions (65)

Michael Lowry

Question:

65. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Transport if he will report on the current waiting times for driving tests in all County Tipperary test centres; the number waiting in each test centre; the reason for the extended delays in each test centre; the steps he is taking to address these driving test delays; these matters require immediate attention and swift action to alleviate the distress and inconvenience caused to persons in County Tipperary who are waiting for a profound period of time to have their driving test completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13476/24]

Oral answers (6 contributions)

Deputy Michael Lowry

What are the current waiting times for driving tests in County Tipperary in all its test centres? What is the number for those waiting in each test centre? What is the reason for the extended delays in each test centre? What steps is the Minister taking to address driving test delays? These matters require immediate attention and swift action to alleviate the distress and inconvenience caused to numerous people throughout Tipperary who are waiting for a long period to complete their driving tests.

Deputy Eamon Ryan

I thank the Deputy. There are four test centres in County Tipperary. Throughout the county at the end of February, 600 tests were scheduled and a further 1,605 applicants were waiting to receive an invitation to book their test.

As of the most recent figures for the end of February, the average wait time to be invited to sit test was 27 weeks in Clonmel, 19 in Nenagh, ten in Thurles and seven in Tipperary town.

As the Deputy will be aware, in many locations across the country, including Tipperary, the average wait time to take a driver test is far too long. The driver testing service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand and, following a request for additional resources from the RSA, 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.

At the end of 2023, there was a net increase of 41 driver testers across the service as a result of this sanction, with additional testing capacity deployed to the geographical areas with the longest waiting times and highest demand for tests. Clonmel has received an additional two driver testers as part of this recruitment, though it is important to note that testers can and do carry out tests outside of their base location in response to demand.

At the end of February, the national average wait time for a candidate to be invited for a test was 16.9 weeks. This is still above the service level agreement, SLA, target of ten weeks and I am acutely aware of the difficulties excessive wait times are still causing for people across the country. Wait times have, however, been on a steady downward trend since the end of August, when they peaked at 30.4 weeks. This reduction corresponds with the deployment of the first tranche of new testers in September.

My Department is working closely with the RSA to monitor demand and capacity requirements of the driver testing service to ensure it meets the agreed service level of average wait times of ten weeks, which the RSA expects to achieve by the middle of the year.

Deputy Michael Lowry

I thank the Minister for that information. While there is an obvious and steady improvement, too many people are still waiting a prolonged period for a test, which is causing a great deal of stress, strain and inconvenience. The facts and the figures there regarding all of the centres in Tipperary are above the service level agreement. On the SLA, are there penalties and what kind of monitoring is done on this? When a threshold is not reached by the provider of the service agreement, what kind of sanctions are taken against it, are those followed up and computed or is it a case where we have a service provider with a long-term contract in place and that no action can be taken when it is not meeting its targets?

Deputy Eamon Ryan

It is not satisfactory that two of the centres in Tipperary are outside of the service level agreement. To clarify, in both Thurles and Tipperary town, we are within that SLA target, which is ten weeks in the case of Thurles and seven weeks in the case of Tipperary town.

Obviously, if there is a long period where a service provider is not able to meet the standards, my Department, and it is primarily the RSA which has responsibility for this, will take action to ensure that we get within our limits.

The backlog, which is the real challenge and difficulty here, was caused like many things in our society by the disruption brought by Covid-19. We saw the wait time go up to approximately 30 weeks by the middle of last year as a consequence of not having sufficient testers and having a significant backlog. We are addressing it and bringing that right down. My understanding from the RSA is that by the middle of this year, we will have the national average down to ten weeks. If any particular centres are outside that, the RSA are directed and have the powers to act to bring it back into line.

Deputy Michael Lowry

It would be helpful to all of us as elected representatives where some months ago I engaged with the chief operations officer of the National Driver Licence Service, NDLS. Among a number of matters, I strongly criticised its issuing of generic letters to elected representatives. Part of the reason is this suspicion by public representatives of the information they are getting is because the NDLS is too slow to give us information and it is unwilling to openly engage and issue facts. Today, the Minister has given me the facts. I accept the facts and I accept that an improvement is being made and that it is being treated as a priority. These people, however, who are responding to elected representatives should be more open and transparent. It is in their own interest to help us to get the public to understand that improvements are being made or why there are delays.

Deputy Eamon Ryan

I absolutely agree with the Deputy. The Government aspires to an open government data regime where we provide that information. It should not have to require letters in many instances; we should be looking to provide information on a readily accessible basis. This might reduce the amount of work which we as representatives or they as administrators have to do. I fully accept the Deputy's point. Our public administrative system needs to be quick in response to queries from public representatives and, in many ways, to pre-empt the need for that by providing accurate and timely information. I will look to see that this is applied in the writing of such letters or the answering of any queries.