Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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As a result of legislation introduced by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, the driving test for learning drivers is becoming more exacting. The standards expected have increased, which is welcome and Sinn Féin has supported all the legislation the Minister has introduced. It is now necessary, for example, to ensure a fully qualified driver is always in a vehicle and this requirement is being fully enforced, as is right and proper. However, other factors outside the remit of the Department, including the cost of insurance, make learning to drive increasingly difficult. In that context, it is reasonable to expect the Government to go some distance towards ensuring that learner drivers have reasonable access to the driving test and have an opportunity to become fully qualified drivers. Learner drivers are facing inordinate waiting times across the country, particularly in Cork city and surrounding areas. According to the Road Safety Authority's website, the average waiting time for a driving test is 15.6 weeks. This does not tell the full story, however.

The longest wait is 25 weeks, according to the RSA website. What is important to understand is that for those who are in a position to book a cancellation, for example, it is not that difficult to get a test but those cancellations could fall at any time. The reality for anybody working full time is that that option is not available to him or her. One must pick a specific date and that date could be five or six months down the line. Others are in a situation where they need to pass a driving test to be able to qualify for a new position that they have applied for.

In anticipation of this debate, I asked my constituents on social media for examples of how long they had been waiting. I was told that one person had booked a test in January and still had not heard anything. Another was waiting seven months for a test date. One person was waiting since September. A driving instructor told me that a pupil had sat the test yesterday who had applied last November. Another person has been waiting since November and is being told that it could be some time.

For many, the wait is longer than six months. That presents considerable difficulties, as I say, particularly for those who are waiting on a job and need a driving licence for that. It is quite unfair, especially for those who have sat the test, may have missed out narrowly and then must wait another six months before they can sit the test again. In the context of us setting higher and higher thresholds for learner drivers, it is only fair that Government would ensure that learner drivers have access to a test reasonably speedily.

One step that should be taken is that a second driving test centre would be set up to serve the greater Cork city area. The city test centre covers not only Cork city, which has a population of more than 200,000 when one takes in the surrounding areas, but also east Cork, because there is no test centre there, and a good part of north Cork. This test centre serves a population of between 300,000 and 350,000. That is excessive. There should be a second test centre to serve that area.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue.

I would like to put on record my personal appreciation for the support given by Sinn Féin to the traffic legislation before the House. We are on the same page about saving lives.

I acknowledge what the Deputy has raised here today is a real problem. It is something which is being addressed. I acknowledge as well that it is not yet resolved. The driver testing service has seen an increase of almost 20% in the levels of driving test applications over the past four years. This, coupled with the retirement of driver tester staff, has meant that the waiting times for customers for driving tests have increased.

Driving tests are delivered across 52 test centres nationally. The objective of the RSA is to have a national average waiting time of no longer than ten weeks. The current national average waiting time for a driving test is 12.5 weeks. The RSA continues to monitor capacity against demand and deploys driver testers to best meet the demand across all test centres.

The current average waiting time for a driving test in the Wilton test centre in Cork is 16 weeks. The longest waiting time for a test at the Cork centre is 23 weeks. This longest wait time may be due to an applicant applying for a test before completing the required driver training of 12 lessons, or the test maybe on hold for medical or payment reasons. That is consistent with what the Deputy said when he mentioned six months, which is 26 weeks. The Deputy is probably right about that figure which he produced.

The following table gives an overview of test applications at the Cork driving test centre:

Cork (Wilton) Test Centre — Applications on hand as at 9 May 2018

The Road Safety Authority, RSA, employs 97.49 full-time equivalent driver testers. My Department has sanctioned an additional 31 driver testers since October 2016, and to date, 23 are now conducting driving tests. The remaining eight testers will be recruited in the coming months. Sanction was given to the RSA to replace retired testers as required, and my Department and the RSA are examining the long-term requirements for driver tester numbers to ensure that the authority can meet future demand.

The RSA is undertaking other initiatives to increase capacity to deliver extra driving tests. These include the delivery of 120 extra overtime tests per participating driver tester. A total of 46 driver testers have completed the delivery of the extra tests over the past seven months, and this has yielded 5,520 tests. Other initiatives include a reduction in the number of applicant no-shows at the driving test, with 10,637 applicants having been contacted, resulting in 2,053 tests being cancelled in advance that would have been lost due to no-shows and these tests being made available to other test applicants. Another initiative is a reduction in non-conducted driving tests whereby, closer to test appointment dates, the RSA, in an effort to reduce non-conducted driving tests, communicates to test applicants via text messaging and via applicants' approved driving instructors key messages regarding the vehicle and document requirements. The new driving test booking system is yet another initiative. The RSA plans to introduce a new test booking system that will give test applicants much more control over their booking and appointment choice. A tender process has been completed and it is envisaged that the new system will be in place by mid-2019.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I must interrupt the Minister as his time has expired. He will have another two minutes.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate the Minister's response. While I raised this in relation to my own constituency, the Minister said there are fewer than 100 staff dedicated to this nationally, which seems to me a meagre number. It is no wonder that there are such waiting times.

Averages do not properly capture the picture because some can get tests quite rapidly if they are in a position to avail of a cancellation, which most people are not. Anyone who is working full-time does not have that level of flexibility because he or she is offered one cancellation date and can either take it or leave it and wait for the dates that he or she has selected, which could be five or six months down the road. That is an unreasonable situation. For example, if a person undergoes training to become a fully qualified driver, applies for the test, waits five or six months to do it but does not reach the standard, he or she will have to apply again and wait another five or six months. That would amount to a year spent waiting to become a fully qualified driver even though the driver's standard of driving might be quite good. In fairness, such drivers should be in a position to resit the test quite quickly, become fully qualified drivers, having gone to the effort, and not face the restrictions that learner drivers face.

Given the amount of additional tasks that learner drivers have been asked to do in recent years, it is quite reasonable that they should expect a sensible waiting time of two months or three months, not five or six months and potentially a year if they are repeating it. I put it to the Minister again, because this is one of the solutions locally at least, that he should consider whether there is scope for a second testing centre location to serve the greater Cork city area.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I will refer the Deputy's comments to the RSA and ask is there any case for that at all. I suspect that the RSA will respond by saying that the efforts it is making at present are adequate. I note that Cork is high up on the list of average waiting times. At 16 weeks, it stands in ninth or tenth position in a fairly long list. It is well above the average waiting time. I will ask the RSA to bear that in mind also.

The Deputy quotes a fair number of hard cases and I am sure he is correct in every case. I remind him, though, that a driving applicant may, if he or she wishes, seek an appointment at a different test centre should there not be a suitable appointment at his or her preferred centre. It may be inconvenient, but it is open to an applicant to apply to any centre at all.

6 o’clock

Some have average waiting times that are much lower than the Cork one. They go right down to 7.2 weeks. With regard to those people who are seeking urgent appointments, I am assured by the RSA there is a priority list whereby cancelled test appointments are made available for such applicants. Over 1,000 tests are cancelled by driver test applicants weekly and these slots are subsequently offered to applicants who require urgent test appointments.

My Department has also asked the RSA to examine the longer term staffing needs of the driver tester service to ensure that the RSA can plan for revision of tester numbers based on demand for tests and to better manage succession planning for driver testers who may retire. The RSA and I accept that current waiting times remain too high but I am assured the measures it has put in place will have the desired effect of reducing waiting times for the public.

I will draw to the attention of the RSA the particular case for Cork as made by the Deputy.