Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Drogheda is the largest town in Ireland with a population of more than 80,000, yet since March it has had no driver testing centre. A total of 2,700 people who applied to sit their test in Drogheda must go elsewhere to towns they neither live in nor know well. A freedom of information request shows that of the significant number of centres turned down by the Road Safety Authority, two were found suitable. One is at the Mell Road recycling centre. There was no problem with this site but the Road Safety Authority turned it down because of the local authority ramps outside; that these were a danger to their drivers to use. I believe the answer there is to change the ramps and not to turn down a driving test centre. The second site was the Platin Road site, which was found to be fine and suitable. It was turned down because the Road Safety Authority does not want to put prefabs on that site or pay for them. This is unacceptable. I would appreciate if the Minister would raise this matter urgently with the Road Safety Authority.

See this speech in context