Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. As he will be aware, under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the RSA has statutory responsibility for the national driver testing service. The service has experienced unprecedented demand in recent years, with the number of applications for a driving test having increased significantly since 2021.

In 2024, a total of 253,850 driving tests were conducted, up from 196,853 in 2023, making it a record year for the delivery of tests. The delivery of this number of tests was possible only because of the support of our testing staff, through significant levels of overtime and operational efficiencies.

The return to an average waiting time of ten weeks for a driver test is a priority for me. To that end, I have engaged extensively with the CEO of the RSA. Ten weeks reflects a service level agreement that has been in place.

At my instruction, the RSA published its comprehensive action plan to return the target average driver test waiting time to ten weeks by early September. This plan sets out the actions that will be taken by the RSA to achieve this goal. The plan also includes targets against which the RSA is required to report to me on a fortnightly basis. The latest report on the plan has now been published and it is positive that there continues to be progress in reducing the average waiting times. As of 12 July, the RSA was reporting that the average national waiting time for a driving test was approximately 14 weeks. This builds on the progress made during May and June and is an improvement of almost 13 weeks on the waiting time at the end of April, 27 weeks.

This progress has been achieved through a number of positive actions taken by the RSA, including accelerated driver tester training, which was lacking, booking system management and extended testing hours, including in the evening, at weekends and on bank holidays. It is vital that this positive trend continue and that the RSA, at a minimum, meet the targets set out in its published plan for restoring the service to an average waiting time of ten weeks under the service level agreement. Should any deviations from projected timelines arise, these must be immediately escalated to my Department.The RSA has also been instructed to make contingency preparation to deal with any potential slippage that might emerge in relation to this timeline, which should be ready to be activated as quickly as possible should that need arise.

In relation to Cavan and Monaghan, while progress is being made I must acknowledge that there are variations across the test centres behind the national average, with some candidates waiting for longer than the average and some having a shorter wait. At the end of June the average waiting time at the Cavan test centre was 12 weeks, which is below the national average and a significant improvement on the 22-week waiting time recorded at the end of April, before the recovery plan was adopted. On the other hand there is still work to be done on reducing waiting times in Monaghan. Although wait times have reduced by four weeks between the end of April and the end of June from 22 weeks to 18 weeks, this is still well above what is acceptable. With 30 additional testers entering the service this month, I expect we will see considerable progress at all locations by the end of July.