Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for Transport acknowledges the Deputy's concerns about the waiting lists in the Tipperary town and Clonmel test centres. On 23 January the longest waiting time in Clonmel was 51 weeks compared to 50 last December and in Tipperary town it was 58 weeks compared to 55 last December. While the Minister fully accepts that waiting times for driving tests in general are unacceptable, the increase in these centres in January was due to some of the testers based in these regions being on annual leave over Christmas and the new year. The Minister anticipates that the waiting times in these centres will improve in the short term.

Regarding waiting times in general at present 127,000 candidates await a driving test. Since 1998 the driver testing corps has been increased from 66 to 113 to deal with the additional workload. In addition, retired testers have been engaged and testers continue to work overtime. The Minister for Transport, in consultation with the Minister for Finance, has developed a package of measures to deal with the backlog of driving tests. It is the intention of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, to reduce the driver testing backlog by 80,000 by June 2007. To this end a package of measures was proposed which included a bonus scheme for driver testers, recruitment of an additional ten testers and the outsourcing of a batch of 40,000 tests.

The testing and recruitment process of the proposed ten contract testers is under way in the Public Appointments Service and 89 driver testers have signed up for the bonus scheme which is due to commence on 6 February. This is expected to deliver approximately 30,000 tests based on the commitment given. The tendering process for the outsourcing of tests has been completed and a preferred tender has been selected. No contract has yet been awarded as the matter has been the subject of conciliation at the Labour Relations Commission as unions consider the proposed outsourcing to be in breach of Sustaining Progress.

Agreement was reached at the LRC under which it was agreed that the Department of Transport would seek expressions of interest from surplus staff within the Department of Agriculture and Food for temporary redeployment as driver testers. A minimum number of 25 additional staff was required. The Department of Transport has processed the applications received and this week will interview the shortlist of ten, following which the successful candidates will be trained as driver testers. The agreement also provided that in the event of the proposal proving to be undeliverable at any stage the Department would take measures to address the backlog. My understanding is that the Department continues to pursue all options to ensure that the backlog is reduced as quickly as possible. I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

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