Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling this important motion.

It is a huge issue in Cavan, as it is elsewhere. I am contacted weekly by people who inquire about driving tests and wonder whether their applications could be fast-tracked. Many of them are young and about to take up an apprenticeship or new job or college place and require a driving licence to get to their places of employment or study. As there is a lack of accommodation, many cannot live near their place of study and public transport in Cavan is not reliable. It does not go everywhere they need to go. Some people are considering turning down apprenticeships or jobs because they cannot get to the place and it is not viable for a qualified driver to travel with them at all times. The waiting time seems to be about 30 weeks and that is not acceptable.

I came across one young man who applied on 14 March. He waited 30 weeks. An email was sent to the family email at the beginning of October. He missed the email because it had taken so long and he was not checking his emails on a regular basis. Why can a text message not be sent to tell people to check their emails for a response from the RSA? He is not the first person who has missed the email after waiting almost half a year for an invitation to book a test.

Essentially, this is down to the failure of workforce planning. We knew there would be a backlog after Covid, yet an additional 30 testers were announced in July 2022. They were not deployed until March 2023. Another 75 were announced in April 2023 and they will not be deployed until the end of this year. What is the hold-up in this? This is causing a huge problem. As we know, there is a backlog already, but there is also a 28% increase in the numbers of those applying for the test. Why are testers not being put in place much sooner, rather than waiting up to nine months before they are deployed? There is also an issue with the cancellation of tests in my area at short notice, sometimes within 24 hours, and there seems to be no official channel for reimbursement of expenses for driving test candidates or driver instructors who commit their time and vehicles to pupils for hire for the driving test when it is cancelled at short notice. That is something else that needs to be addressed.

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