Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)

The delays relating to driving tests have been going on for far too long. What is happening is causing huge stress for workers and is resulting in some having to turn down jobs or delay their starting dates while others, including college students, have longer commutes each week. When these delays started to become a serious problem a few years back, the excuse was that the backlog was due to Covid. That does not wash any more. The delays at the Raheny test centre in my constituency have jumped from 20 weeks in January to 32 weeks now. One constituent applied for a driving test in July of last year. She was informed that her test would take place in November. It was then pushed back to this month. That is a ten-month wait for a test. During that period, her workplace had moved back from allowing people to work remotely to having them on site four days a week. The fact she could not drive and had to take two buses instead added an extra ten hours to her commute each week. That is completely unacceptable.

If there is a surge in demand for services such as driving tests, it is the Government's job to provide additional resources. It is really not that difficult. This is merely another example of poor planning and poor management, and it has been dragging on for years.

We are even seeing companies popping up that are facilitating applicants taking driving tests in countries like Georgia that have short wait times and that allow tests to be taken in English. When they pass the test, they can exchange their licences for Irish ones. All this can be done in a matter of weeks and at a cost of up to €1,000. It tells you how desperate people are if they are availing of this option.

Waiting times must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Clearly, we need more capacity. That means more driving test centres and more permanent testers. What is happening is having a hugely negative effect on families, workers and students so Can we finally have a degree of urgency in respect of this matter?

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