Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I have been following this issue for quite a while. I welcome the fact that additional driving testers have been sanctioned and approved, and they have been recruited. Now they need to be deployed to the different areas that are experiencing long delays. I was given to believe by the Minister of State that areas that are experiencing the longest delays would be prioritised, for example, Shannon in County Clare. The average waiting time for a test there is 35 weeks, which is shocking. The service level agreement is supposed to be ten weeks, and that is long enough, but people are not getting in within ten weeks in any of the centres in Clare, including in Ennis or Kilrush. It is a 20-week or 19-week wait, which is just not acceptable. I was given a commitment in this Chamber that additional driving testers would be redeployed to the three test centres in County Clare. I want to know if that has happened.

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