I propose to take Questions Nos. 81, 101 and 558 together.
Some 88,500 applicants are at present awaiting driving tests, an improvement of 13,400 over mid-1999. Of these, approximately 27,000 have been given test appointments and a further 15,000 have indicated that they are not currently available to be tested. The average longest waiting time nationally is 29 weeks, a reduction of 12 weeks relative to early 1999. Applicants who require a test for urgent reasons, however, are given earlier appointments; about 27% of applicants are tested within 15 weeks.
Average waiting times have not been compiled for each centre due to limitations in the information technology systems involved. The tabular statement in this reply, however, sets out the longest waiting time for each centre. Of the 88,500 applicants, 27,000 are awaiting tests in the Dublin area. The longest waiting times in the Dublin area are 50 weeks in the Finglas-Raheny centre and 48 weeks in the Churchtown-Rathgar-Tallaght centre.
Applications for driving tests are now running at more than a third above earlier levels, driven by exceptional conditions of economic growth. In 1999 a record 154,000 test applications were made to my Department, compared to 118,000 applications in 1887.
Significant additional resources have been allocated to the driver testing service, which now numbers 101 testers compared to 66 in 1998. Together with recent productivity agreements and Saturday working, this has increased the testing capacity of the service by over 90,000 tests to 202,000 tests annually. Two new test centres have been provided in Tallaght and Raheny.
I am determined to maintain the momentum of improvement in the driving test service which has now begun and to end present excessive and unacceptable waiting times. A maximum waiting time of ten weeks is being targeted by the end of this year.
Test Centre
|
Longest waiting period (weeks)
|
Nth. Leinster Region
|
|
Finglas
|
50
|
Dundalk
|
27
|
Mullingar
|
18
|
Navan
|
34
|
|
|
Sth. Leinster Region
|
|
Churchtown/Rathgar/Tallaght
|
46
|
Gorey
|
24
|
Naas
|
35
|
Tullamore
|
23
|
Wicklow
|
29
|
|
|
West Region
|
|
Athlone
|
22
|
Birr
|
21
|
Castlebar
|
39
|
Clifden
|
21
|
Ennis
|
31
|
Galway
|
34
|
Loughrea
|
24
|
Roscommon
|
31
|
Tuam
|
31
|
|
|
Nth. West Region
|
|
Ballina
|
34
|
Buncrana
|
20
|
Ck-on-Shannon
|
19
|
Cavan
|
28
|
Donegal
|
22
|
Letterkenny
|
42
|
Longford
|
23
|
Monaghan
|
19
|
Sligo
|
25
|
|
|
Sth. East Region
|
|
Carlow
|
27
|
Clonmel
|
20
|
Dungarvan
|
22
|
Kilkenny
|
29
|
Nenagh
|
17
|
Portlaoise
|
25
|
Thurles
|
18
|
Tipperary
|
20
|
Waterford
|
25
|
Wexford
|
30
|
|
|
Sth. West Region
|
|
Cork
|
46
|
Killarney
|
34
|
Kilrush
|
31
|
Limerick
|
35
|
Mallow
|
34
|
Newcastle West
|
40
|
Shannon
|
35
|
Skibbereen
|
37
|
Tralee
|
33
|
|
|
Regional Average
|
|
Nth. Leinster
|
32
|
Sth. Leinster
|
31
|
West
|
28
|
Nth. West
|
26
|
Sth. East
|
23
|
Sth. West
|
36
|
Overall Average
|
28.9
|