Mr. Brendan Walsh:

We have been working on new ways of looking at how we calculate our numbers since the end of 2022. I joined the service in 2022 from a private background. I brought forward the type of forecasting I had used in my former role, which took into account other factors outside of CSO data and information we had normally available to us. Since then we have started to look at how we model. We look at the pipeline of people undergoing essential driver training, EDT. We look at the number of lessons that have been uploaded. We are now looking at the number of approved driving instructors, ADIs, operating in the service. To give some context to this, when I joined the service there were 1,600 ADIs operating and there are now 2,600. This is a big increase, which means more and more people are learning to drive. We are looking at these factors. Bringing all of them in and looking at these various indicators has allowed us to put forward modelling which has resulted in us identifying the need for 200 testers. As I have said, in 2022 we identified that we will probably need 170 at the time. Over that period of time we have also seen a significant increase in the number of applications. These applications are being driven by socioeconomic factors, such as those outlined by committee members. These include people moving to rural Ireland from cities where they had not needed a car. We also have inward migration, which is driving the need for driver licences for people who arrive here for work. We take all of these factors and we add all of them together, and this is how we are now forecasting our business.