Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The RSA is working to expand that capacity. The authority is working with its providers to see how it can do just exactly what the Deputy has outlined in regarding to extending weekend hours, overtime, the recruitment of additional staff as well as extending the postal service. It will need that extra capacity in terms of resources, but, at the same time, the throughput at the testing centres must be managed at all times. Many of the centres are small spaces, so that also needs to be managed in relation to the waiting areas. To give an idea of where we have come from, pre-Covid the waiting period was six and a half weeks whereas at the moment an applicant can expect to wait to between 25 and 30 weeks. It is a very difficult situation, but we are trying to prioritise essential workers at the moment, and there is an email address to which essential workers can write, namely, urgentdrivingtest@rsa.ie.

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