Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

Gan amhras, nílimid sásta maidir le tréimhse fanachta na dtástálacha tiomána. Tá an tAire Stáit, an Teachta Canney, ag obair leis an Aire chun tréimhse fanachta na dtástálacha a laghdú.

I recognise that my response to the debate will probably be no different from what was said by any of the Members who have spoken. We are all frustrated by the delay. As Deputy Timmins said, the diagnosis is well documented, but this debate is important because I hope it will lead to ongoing change.

I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, on his proactivity with the RSA. Members are genuinely frustrated and have raised real, legitimate frustrations on behalf of their constituents. Like me, no day goes by that we do not get a phone call about or request for a driver test.

I reiterate that the Government recognises the need to address the long-standing issue with service provision and to ensure that a reliable, high-quality driver test service is available throughout the State. The Government and I understand the unacceptable wait times for driver tests is having a profound and significant impact on people. Ordinary people are trying to get a job or go to college and exist. It particularly affects those in rural Ireland where the public transport, despite advances, is in some cases limited. We are all in agreement that we need to deliver decisively on the long-standing issues relating to service provision and ensure that a reliable, high-quality driver test service is available throughout the State, regardless of where people live.

Not only is achieving the ten-week target time important for learner driver experience of the service, it is also a vital component of delivering on our road safety strategy and the ambition to halve the number of road deaths and serious injuries this decade. Ensuring drivers are well trained and equipped to deal with the challenges of modern driving makes us all safer on the roads.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, outlined, our population has significantly increased in recent years, putting additional demand on the driver testing service with a record number of applications received last year. I accept that is no crumb of comfort to those waiting, but it is a fact. The operation of the service is under the statutory remit of the RSA and we have sought to support it in meeting this increase in demand through a number of staffing sanctions in recent years. Most recently, 70 additional driver testers were sanctioned on a permanent basis in September last year, with a sanctioned headcount of 200 today, which has been a near doubling of staff sanctioned in just two years. This reflects the Government's commitment to addressing this issue. Prior to this, the RSA requested sanction for 75 testers on a temporary basis, which was approved by the Department in March 2023. This temporary sanction was the correct decision at the time. Under the temporary sanction, significant progress was made between August 2023 and April 2024, with wait times halving from 30 to 15 weeks. Deputy Timmins's proposal merits real consideration and I hope the ADIs, RSA and the Department can engage further on this suggestion.

The progress that was made under the previous sanction before the loss of testing capacity should give us confidence that the additional capacity now entering the service on a permanent basis will deliver improved waiting times on a sustained basis going forward. The RSA, in its meetings with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, has been confident that the permanent positions now on offer will attract and retain more testers than was the case with the temporary sanction. The fact it remains in place permanently will allow the RSA to build the vacancies as they arise in response to demand up to the ceiling of 200 on an ongoing basis going forward. Members' suggestions on different times, cancellations and operating on different days, including weekends, should be actively considered and pursued. As the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, previously mentioned, interest in the recent competition was extremely high, with 1,400 people applying at the initial stage and more than 300 making it through to the final driving assessment stage.

Members should be aware that the first tranche of new testers was deployed into service in late April and I understand the next tranche begins training this week, with a further tranche of testers to begin their training before the end of this month. As additional testers enter the system, testing capacity will increase and progress should be seen in reducing wait times in the months ahead. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, in his opening statement referenced the initial RSA plan for restoring waiting times to ten weeks, which it was required to develop as a condition of its staffing sanction. It targeted restoration by November of this year. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and all of us in the Department of Transport and in this House deemed it to be unacceptable when he met the RSA at the beginning of May. New proposals were brought to him today on the delays. To reiterate a point made by the Minister of State, the RSA believes it can achieve the ten week target in September by introducing efficiencies in the tester training programme, while avoiding anything that undermines training or safety standards. It will publish its plan later this week and report again in a fortnight. In the event that it misses its targets, it will also immediately commence work on a contingency plan to add additional capacity to the system should the need arise.

Deputy Toole asked who would take responsibility and drive it. I am confident that the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, will. We have to get this right. The contributions of all Deputies today illustrate the importance of this. With the report every two weeks and publishing the progress report, I hope real accountability will lead to changes and proactivity. Additional capacity will help to address the systemic mismatch between supply and demand that has developed in recent years as our population has grown. However, it is also important to recognise the steps taken by the RSA and efforts made by individual testers to mitigate the impact on customers to the greatest extent possible where the current recruitment campaign is ongoing. There was extensive voluntary working of overtime by driver testers last year to help to meet demand and this is continuing, including at weekends. To support this, the RSA ran an incentivisation programme for overtime last year and a similar offering is under consideration for this year. The RSA has introduced IT system improvements to maximise the number of test slots utilised and reduce the number of tests lost to cancellation and no-shows.

Once a person has been invited to book a test, slots released at short notice following a cancellation can now be booked on the myroadsafety.ieportal. Such slots will be added every day and the new system has seen the overall percentage of testing slots utilised increase from 95% to 98%.

Deputies may wish to note that the RSA transparently publishes detailed monthly information on the driver testing service on the CSO website, including the breakdown of waiting times and the distribution of testing capacity by test centre.

Separately, while new testers will bring much needed additional capacity in the short term, in the long term, there are two significant initiatives that should help to improve delivery of the service. The first of these is to reform the RSA, informed by the recommendations of the 2024 Indecon review presented to the Government in November last year. A core principle of this review is that the RSA’s customer service and operations roles be separated from its wider road safety advocacy role and this should improve focus and delivery for both. Alongside this, focus on work carried out to date under the forthcoming phase 2 of the action plan under the Government's road safety strategy, the RSA will complete its review of the driver testing curriculum and progress implementation of its recommendations in the period to the end of 2027. This review should be implemented holistically, along with any required reforms to driver instruction to help ensure that new drivers are equipped for modern driving conditions and the pass test rate increases from 50%, thereby reducing demand on the driver testing system.

The Government recognises the important significant impact that long-term waiting times for driver tests are having on people, in particular, on those residing in rural areas where there is an issue with a public transport deficit. It is important, however, that we do not compromise testing standards and instead ensure the recruitment of sufficient driver testing capacity of an appropriate standard to support safe road use. The current recruitment campaign is well advanced. Additional capacity has now entered the system and further testers will do so in the coming months. We expect to see wait times progressively reduce to the target of ten weeks from this month onwards.

I thank Members for their contributions. Genuinely, the Minister and Ministers of State in the Department of Transport all understand the frustration and annoyance and we are working hard to ensure we meet the ten week requirement.

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