Ms Liz O'Donnell:

Everybody is concerned about the delays in driving testing. They are, unfortunately, inevitable. It is a legacy issue arising from the suspension of all of our services during the first lockdown. Since July, we have managed to increase our capacity to deal with the backlog. There are currently 64,500 people either scheduled or eligible to take a driving test. Before Covid, our waiting time was a very healthy six weeks but it is now in the region of 25 to 30 weeks. This is of concern. We are trying to eat into the backlog. Since July, we have managed to carry out approximately 30,000 tests at an average rate of 3,500 tests per week. We have a shortage of driver testers. We have applied to the Minister for Transport and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for authority to hire 80 more testers. The Department has been helpful in that it allowed us to again recruit or rehire 18 driver testers whose contracts had finished and 16 others whose terms were due to expire. It is basically a capacity problem. We are doing our best and carrying out an average of 3,500 tests per week. We have carried out 30,000. The capacity plan has been submitted to the Department and I hope it will respond very quickly because we are aware of the inconvenience to members of the public.