Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The statutory maximum waiting time for a driving test is ten weeks and no test centre in the country is meeting that or even coming close to it. There is no driving test centre in Drogheda, the largest town in Ireland and the sixth largest urban centre in the State. What will become the next city in the country has no driving test centre of its own. People in south Louth and east Meath have to travel to do their driving tests, usually to Navan or Dundalk, but sometimes to Dublin, due to waiting times. They have to drive on unfamiliar roads with no local knowledge and it may be the only time they drive those roads. To add to the inconvenience of having to travel for driving tests, the waiting time in the Navan test centre is 35 weeks, while in Dundalk it is 23 weeks. There are 76 test centres around the country. In some cases, towns far smaller than Drogheda have two test centres. People in Drogheda do not begrudge this, but it is genuinely farcical at this stage that a permanent driving test centre site cannot be found in Drogheda, the largest town in lreland, after seven years of searching. Up and down the country, there are driving test centres operating out of offices and rooms in hotels, yet the Government cannot seem to locate a single building in Drogheda that is suitable for a test centre.

According to the RSA, 14 sites were inspected in Drogheda last year. Of those 14 sites, seven were deemed to be not suitable but no reason was given. Traffic was given as the reason for not allowing a centre at other sites. Can anyone in the Government or the RSA really state, with a straight face, that there no traffic issues around any of the other driver testing routes throughout the State? In another one, the reason given was the presence of speed ramps. Traffic and speed ramps are a fact of life for all drivers, so it beggars belief that the RSA would not want drivers to be prepared for them.

At present, there are 45,000 people living in Drogheda, as the Minister knows, as he does not live too far away. The population is set to increase by around 20,000 in the next five years under the northern environs plan, with 5,000 new homes forecast or under way. We need a driving test centre to serve a large population in a large geographical area spanning south Louth and east Meath. If we are to reduce the waiting times I highlighted earlier for driving tests in Navan and Dundalk, then a driving test centre must be opened in Drogheda as soon as possible.

The Government and RSA need to meet their commitments and provide driving tests within the statutory waiting time. Drogheda has been sidelined for too long, There are no excuses that will suffice any longer. A permanent test centre for Drogheda has to become a priority for all stakeholders.

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