Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am glad to get the opportunity to ask about the problem we have in Kerry with the delay in youngsters getting their driving tests. This is an important issue. Boys and girls have to wait for up to six months to get their driving test, which is far too long for a young learner driver to have to wait, particularly in rural areas of Kerry where there is no public transport option and driving is the only option. Many young people cannot take up job offers, apprenticeships or college courses, as they would have to have a parent, brother, sister or grandparent with them going to and from wherever they needed to go, even with their L-plates displayed. This is not practical because everyone in today's Ireland is busy doing his or her own job and time is precious.

On top of that, doing the test is a costly process. A learner driver must first pass a theory test and do a minimum of 12 lessons before applying for a test. The delay in getting a driving test means learners are paying higher insurance costs for longer.

The other issue in Kerry is that there are only two driving test centres, those being, in Killarney and Tralee. Kerry is badly in need of another test centre in the south in Cahersiveen. It is 50 miles away from Killarney and even longer away from Tralee. In response to my recent parliamentary question, I was advised that the RSA was increasing testing capacity and the Department of Transport last September sanctioned an additional 70 permanent posts for driver testers. Holy God, but where are the 70 testers? It is worse the situation is getting, day by day. I raised this matter at exactly this time last year, when we were told at the Oireachtas committee that 30 new testers were being appointed. I do not know who the man from the RSA was, but he said that most of them were being centred around Dublin. Dublin has all kinds of public transport, which we do not have in rural parts of Kerry. Will the Minister of State do something about this? It will get worse during the summer months because the testers go on holidays like everyone else. The six months will become eight months. That happened last year as well. Something realistic has to be done. I will give examples of young fellows and girls who want to go to work or do apprenticeships. Many cannot go to college.

Another issue is the system is being clogged up with people who leave a place like Barraduff in Kerry and go over to the USA for a number of years - it is not for ten years or anything like it - and when they come back, they must do the whole driving test over again if their licences expired while they were away. I met a man who came home to Scartaglin and thought he could exchange the licences he held. He held many licences to drive anything - buses, diggers, bulldozers and everything else - but he cannot get his licences changed. He is about 59 or 60 years of age and he is going to Australia because his licences are accepted there. Likewise, Australian licences are recognised in Ireland. However, American licences are not recognised. That is ridiculous. It is clogging up the system.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am glad the Deputy raised this question because it is a problem throughout the country. I understand his frustration.

I will first provide an outline. The Road Safety Authority Act 2006 gave statutory responsibility for the national driver test service to the RSA. At the end of April, the average estimated time for invitation to test for a candidate was 25 weeks. I am told the waiting time for invitation to test in Kerry is 23.5 weeks, so what the Deputy said was the truth. This is far above the acceptable service-level agreement target of ten weeks. Measures are being taken to address this issue.

As the population has grown in recent years, the demand on driver testing services has similarly increased. In 2024, the busiest year in the history of the service, more than 250,000 driving tests were conducted, up from over 196,000 in 2023. This increase in demand for driving tests and the time to invitation for learner drivers has a number of contributing factors. These include an increase in learner permits in circulation, increased capacity in the driver theory test and an increase in advanced driving instructors' capacity to deliver lessons to learner drivers.

My Department has sought to support the RSA in meeting rising demand through a number of staffing sanctions in recent years. Most recently, in September 2024, the Department sanctioned an additional 70 permanent positions for driver testers.

This increases the total permanent sanction for testers to 200, which represents a doubling of testers since June 2022.

As a condition of sanction, the RSA was required to put a plan in place to restore the ten-week waiting time target as soon as possible. When this plan was first put forward by the RSA, it envisaged a return to the target by November 2025. This is not acceptable given the level of delays already being suffered by learner drivers. I met RSA representatives last week to discuss this issue and instructed the authority to return in two weeks with sustainable proposals which will provide a faster resumption to the service level agreement of ten weeks.

The recruitment process for additional testers is well under way, with the first tranche of new testers now being deployed into service. These testers are being assigned to test centres nationwide as the candidates complete their training. As additional testers enter the system, testing capacity will increase and progress should be made on reducing the numbers.

The Deputy may be aware that driver testing is offered on Saturdays where driver testers are available to do overtime and there are also additional morning and evening test slots offered where daylight allows. This has been the case since the current backlog in driving tests started to build up. To further assist with reducing waiting times, in October 2023, a change was made to the system to allow any unused slots to be made available for anyone to take up at short notice. If a driving test is cancelled at short notice, the RSA makes this appointment available to candidates on the MyRoadSafety portal.

While new testers will bring additional capacity in the short term, in the longer term it is intended that the RSA will be reformed consequent to a Government decision of November 2024. This reform will be carried out on a phased and planned basis. A departmental group led by the Department of Transport and comprising relevant stakeholders is tasked with developing a comprehensive implementation plan, including required legislation, to ensure the reform delivers road safety benefits and an improved customer experience.

I assure the Deputy that I am engaging with the RSA on an ongoing basis on proposals to reduce wait times to ten weeks.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Minister of State for his reply, but most of that information was contained in an answer to a parliamentary question I tabled a number of weeks ago and we are still the same way. It was the same last year when I raised the issue at an Oireachtas committee. The truth is, Dublin is being looked after but places like Kerry are not. That is the God's gospel truth. All of the children and youngsters of the country must be treated equally. People in Kerry are not being treated in the same way as people up here in Dublin are, and they have all kinds of public transport up here. If the test cannot be carried out in ten weeks, surely the candidate who has done the driver theory test, the 12 lessons and all that is required, should be allowed to drive and given an amnesty until the test comes. These youngsters need to get going. We were all young at one time. We wanted to get out on the road safely and carefully. These people can do that and they have to be trusted and given the chance to go to work or college.

I know a young fella from Cordal who wanted to go back to milk his uncle's cows because something had happened to his uncle. It was 6 or 7 miles along a country road. He cannot do it because he has been waiting for ages to be called for his driving test. The uncle badly needs his nephew, who cannot go to help him. It is not fair. The Minister of State will have to do something. If the RSA is not able to respond or to do the job, something else will have to be done. In the meantime, give the young fellas who have their driving lessons and theory test done one chance and that will put more of an onus on them to drive carefully. Give them an amnesty to drive until they are called for their tests. That would be a fairer way of doing it because the system is out of all order and is gone beyond the beyond.

We have been at this for three years. I was at this issue as hard as this last year and challenged the man from the RSA who said he was giving most of the 30 posts to Dublin. That is not fair. We have not seen any of the 70 testers who were supposed to have been taken on last September. There is no sign of them down in Kerry. It is actually getting worse. As I said at the start, come July and August, there will be no cover because the fellas we were supposed to have will be gone on holidays and the young fellas will be on the side of the road with their thumbs up.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I recognise and feel the Deputy's frustration because I know and feel it myself in my own constituency. People contact me to say their test has been postponed up to five or six times. They are young people, healthcare workers, the whole shooting match. I assure the Deputy that I am treating this as an emergency. I met RSA representatives last week and asked them to come back to me next week with firm proposals on what will happen. I will work with them very closely to make sure there are improvements. We have to maintain the integrity of the driving test and make sure everybody is safe on the road. I hear the Deputy's suggestion of giving an amnesty, but under current regulations and rules, that may not be feasible. I assure the Deputy all options are being considered to help to address the backlog that exists. It is not right. The service is not right and it needs to be rectified.

I thank the Deputy for expressing the frustration in Kerry the way he has expressed it. It is felt throughout the country, sadly, and I will work to make sure we get this matter rectified in conjunction with the RSA. At the end of the day, we want to make sure we have a service that will deliver tests within ten weeks. It is very important and the money has been allocated for these new testers to be trained up. The issue is that they have to be trained and brought out to conduct the testing. I am looking at a variety of options to try to speed up that process in order that we have as many people as possible out testing and that in no place in the country will people be waiting for more than ten weeks for a test. That is my aim and ambition and I want to get that done as quickly as possible. I will work with the RSA to make sure we deliver that.