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

The previous 40 have been recruited and they are now fully trained and started live testing in July. I know the question was not on theory tests but there is really positive work happening in that space. In June, we had a backlog of 129,431 theory tests. That is down to 71,227 and there are free slots available for the driver theory test. Some 9,000 to 10,000 tests per week are happening. That is in a very good space, for which I commend the RSA. From 12 September, some 67,684 people were waiting to receive an invitation for a driver test, while 10,094 had received a test date. A further 28,631 people have applied for their test but are not eligible to take it. With a possibility of 4,881 tests per week, it should be possible to clear the backlog in 14 weeks, allowing for those 40 testers and the seven tests, per tester, per day.

The backlogs and waiting times will reduce further when those additional 40 testers are sanctioned but hopefully by December that 14-week delay will be dealt with.

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