Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, is very welcome. He has five minutes.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senators for the opportunity to address them on the issue of the national driver testing service. As they are aware, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, has statutory responsibility for the national driver testing service under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006. The service has a target average waiting time of ten weeks from when someone applies to sit a test to when that test should take place. As we all know quite well, however, in recent years that target has not been met, with current waiting times far in excess of the ten weeks. They are unacceptably high. The most recent data available as at the end of April indicates that waiting times have grown to an average of 27 weeks nationally, while in the locations with the highest demand, they can be in excess of 40 weeks, which we all find intolerable.

I acknowledge the genuine, legitimate concerns and frustrations of all Senators and the public regarding this issue. As a constituency politician, I am fully aware of the frustration and annoyance felt by so many of our fellow citizens. This situation is having a very negative impact across the country and it is vital that an efficient and dependable driver testing service is restored as quickly as possible. Since coming to office, my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, has prioritised this matter and engaged with the members of the RSA leadership team to discuss their plans for restoring the service to the target waiting time. The Minister of State has made it clear to the RSA that after several years of significant delays in obtaining tests, people cannot wait another six months for the service to be restored.

Last week, the Minister of State again met with the RSA and the authority committed to reducing the average waiting time to 22 weeks by the end of May, to 18 weeks by the end of June and to the service being returned to the target average waiting time of ten weeks by early September at the latest. There can be no deviation from this timeline. The RSA has been instructed to endure contingency plans and remedial measures are put in place and ready to be deployed to ensure no slippage occurs. In addition, at the direction of the Minister of State, the RSA will on Thursday this week publish its plan to restore the service to the ten-week waiting period. I welcome the actions outlined in this plan. It is vital that they are implemented and delivered on fully as soon as possible. The authority will now report to the Minister of State fortnightly and publish its progress against these targets, including projected waiting times and driver testing numbers by centre. This information will ensure greater transparency in relation to the steps being taken to address this issue. It will also ensure that the public will be better informed about the progress being made.

The Department of Transport is continuing to support the RSA in meeting current demand and in addressing capacity issues in the service. To that end, sanction was issued in September 2024 for up to 200 permanent driver testers. This allows for the recruitment of up to 70 additional driver testers on a permanent basis and represents a doubling of the comparable sanction in place in June 2022, when the permanent headcount stood at 100 driver testers. Recruitment is ongoing, but time is needed for a national competition of this scale. It is positive, however, that the first tranche of the new driver testers was deployed in April 2025 and is now conducting tests. I understand these testers have their home bases in counties like Cork and Dublin, but it is important to note that the driver testers can be deployed anywhere in the country in response to demand pressures. As additional testers enter the system and are assigned across the country, testing capacity will increase and progress should be seen in reducing waiting times in the months ahead.

In March 2023, sanction for up to 75 additional driver testers on fixed-term contracts of up to two years resulted in the average waiting time for tests being significantly improved from a peak of 30.4 weeks in August 2023 to 14.9 weeks in April 2024. The RSA expects a similar positive impact on wait times as the additional permanent driver testers come on stream. While the growth in wait times is unacceptable, it has arisen due to a fundamental mismatch between the demand for driving tests and available testing capacity in the RSA in recent years. Following Covid, a large backlog of tests had built up. However, incoming demand is now at record and growing levels, driven by factors such as inward migration and a rising population, meaning the significant backlog has persisted. This demand can be seen in the number of learner permits in circulation and the record number of advanced driving instructors working in the sector to deliver lessons to learners.

My time has elapsed, so I will conclude by saying I am acutely aware of the frustration and hardship caused by excessive wait times. All Ministers in the Department are actively engaging with the RSA on accelerating recruitment and deployment of additional driver testers. The fortnightly reporting will be a benchmark and will be an accountable piece that was not available heretofore. I look forward to hearing suggestions and solutions from Members. We have articulated, quite rightly, the problems and it is about getting solutions now.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Aire Stáit. We will now go to group spokespersons. Senator Duffy is sharing time with Senators Scahill, Nelson Murray and Lynch. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is welcome to the House. As Fine Gael spokesperson in the Seanad for transport and a member of the Joint Committee on Transport, I welcome the opportunity to debate this pressing issue that is affecting individuals throughout the country. With 83,486 people waiting for tests, it is simply not good enough and needs to be addressed urgently. In places like Navan, Tallaght and Galway, waiting times are in excess of 40 weeks and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible. In County Mayo, where I am from, in April of 2022, Ballina and Castlebar had waiting times of six weeks and three weeks, respectively. In April 2025, waiting times in Ballina had gone up to 27 weeks and in Castlebar to 25 weeks. There has been more than a quadrupling of waiting times in that period. That amounts to 485 people in Ballina waiting for tests and in excess of 1,000 in the Castlebar centre.

I would like to highlight the real-word effect of that. A recent representation made to me by a constituent read as follows:

I am 20 years old and I am currently working as a Full-time Special Needs Assistant (SNA) in Belmullet, County Mayo. I’m writing to ask for your assistance in helping me secure a driving test appointment.

My role requires me not only to support students during the ... day, but also to act as a bus escort for children with high dependency needs. This means early starts and late finishes, and reliable transport is essential for me to fulfil my duties. My commute is approximately 15 minutes by car, and with both of my parents working full time, I am finding it increasingly difficult to manage transport.

Being able to drive independently would ensure I can continue supporting the children in my care, both in school and during transport, without putting additional pressure on my family.

There are many such lived experiences and real-life examples throughout the country.

We need to do more. Bashing the RSA is easy. The authority is based in my home town of Ballina in Mayo. We need to support it to do more on this issue because it is affecting the economy and society in a pronounced manner. I invite the Minister of State to meet with the RSA. We need to reinvigorate the office.We need to resource the authority and ensure new testers are introduced in order that we can drastically reduce waiting times. I welcome the efforts of the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and encourage the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to keep a close eye on the situation and ensure waiting times are brought down.

Situations such as this have a real-world effect. There needs to be a degree of empathy. We could offer prioritisation where a job will be affected or a family or healthcare professional is affected. We need to give priority for special needs cases such as those. I thank the Minister of State for his time and look forward to his reply.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is welcome. Senator Duffy mentioned the waiting list, which has 83,486 people on it. I will not say anything about the RSA, but its website still refers to an average waiting time of ten to 12 weeks even though we have been experiencing this issue since the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope the solution that the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, is coming up with includes additional testing centres in regions currently without them and the seconding of instructors. It is a booming business because some 80,000 people are waiting to get their driving licences. Seconding driving instructors into neighbouring counties to assist with testing would be a great way to assist with the backlog.

Like my fellow Fine Gael Senators, I am an advocate for driving lessons in secondary schools. I worry about trying to progress that initiative if students will not have an opportunity to sit an exam before they get to third-level education. That would be counterproductive. I hope all these measures can be considered collectively.

Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael)
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There were 83,000 applicants awaiting a driving test in April, which was the highest number recorded since the pandemic. Navan in County Meath, my hometown, has the longest waiting times of all the test centres in the State, with applicants waiting an estimated 43 weeks. That is, of course, alongside Tallaght, the hometown of my colleague Senator Teresa Costello. Across the border in Cavan, applicants only have to wait for 22 weeks. In April 2024, Navan had a wait time of 16 weeks. In 2025, that wait time has jumped to 43 weeks. All of us here support people going out to work but are they supposed to wait for six months and live on social welfare before they apply?

I appreciate that the RSA is actively looking for testers. I appreciate there is a review. How about getting to grips with this and beginning the process in transition year? Why not include the driver theory test as part of the curriculum? Perhaps we can chat to our Northern Irish colleagues to see what they are doing. The waiting time for a test in Northern Ireland is five weeks. How can it be possible to wait only five weeks in Fermanagh but 43 weeks in Meath?

As a Member of the Seanad, I have raised the fact that Meath has the fewest gardaí per capita, the fewest GPs per capita and the longest waiting times for a driving test in the country. We need to get serious about the growing population of Meath, a commuter county, before it all spirals out of control.

Eileen Lynch (Fine Gael)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I support the comments of my colleagues regarding the unacceptable delays in driving test waiting times, particularly the extended periods which young people, jobseekers and rural residents are enduring just to sit their driving tests. As of the end of April, as the Minister of State will be aware, the waiting time for a test in Mallow and Wilton in Cork was 36 and 35 weeks, respectively. That is almost three times the waiting time in Mallow at the same time last year. This is a serious barrier to employment, education and independence. It is disproportionately affecting those in rural Ireland where public transport is scarce and cars are a necessity.

It is disgraceful that we are telling young people they may have to wait six months to start a position that needs a driving licence. We cannot say we are supporting rural Ireland when we are denying basic mobility to those who live there.

Like my colleagues, I acknowledge the efforts made by the RSA to recruit more testers but the current pace is too slow. We need emergency intervention, including the immediate recruitment and training of additional testers, the opening of more temporary testing centres and greater transparency around scheduling. I also believe we need to consider longer opening hours for test centres, as has been done with national car test, NCT, centres. That is particularly an option at this time of year because the evenings are longer. We must also be mindful of the fact that people also need to learn how to drive in the dark. We need to treat this issue with the urgency it demands.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Teachta Alan Dillon's guests from Breaffy Wanderers today. You are very welcome, ladies. You have joined us as we listen to statements on driving test waiting times. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, has just made an opening address to the Chamber and now Senators are responding and making points on the issue.

I will now move on to the Independent Group.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I want to share time with Senator Keogan, if I may.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I almost referred to the Minister of State as "Senator Buttimer". It is a pleasure to see him here. I congratulate him on his election to the Dáil and his elevation to a ministerial post. I know from my time with him on the transport committee during the previous Government that he has a personal commitment to addressing waiting times for the driving test and that he is committed to the argument we are having now.

Twenty seven weeks, rising to 40 weeks in some areas, is a very long time. On the commitment to reduce it to ten weeks by September, I would be interested to see how we do that. I will offer a solution that the Minister of State might bring to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. We have a plethora of former driving instructors in the Defence Forces and former gardaí who would easily qualify as testers and greatly assist in reducing of waiting times. They are situated all over the country, so there would not be great problems in finding people in, for example, Roscommon who could test in Galway or vice versa. There is one slight impediment, which is the issue of pension abatement. No one will return to the public service where pension abatement exists. I ask the Minister of State to bring this suggestion to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and the Minister and have it discussed at Cabinet. We could see movement very quickly on getting testers into the system.

I think back to my own time in the mid-1980s when my business went bust. I went to AnCO and took an eight-week driver training programme on a truck. I got my test at the end of the course and I was driving trucks commercially within nine weeks or thereabouts. I was not a very good driver but I drove trucks anyhow and it put dinner on the table. At the end of the day, there is a solution. That solution is to use the assets we have in the country. Military driving instructors would also have been testers in the military, so they would be well qualified to test members of the public. If we are to see rapid reductions in waiting times, let us use the people we have. Many of these people had to retire in their mid-50s and they are now probably doing jobs that are not suitable for the skills they bring. I ask the Minister of State to consider introducing former military personnel and former gardaí as testers.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I want to voice the frustration of tens of thousands of people across the country who have done everything right, paid their fees, booked their tests and now are stuck waiting. They are waiting not days or weeks, but months. For some, it can be almost a year. Let us call it what it is - a failure of Government planning and oversight and a failure to prioritise the needs of ordinary people. In April, the average waiting time for a driving test stood at a staggering 27 weeks. That is more than double the RSA's target of ten weeks. The situation is even worse in certain parts of the country. Tallaght, Dundalk and Navan are seeing waiting lists of up to 43 weeks. That is nearly ten months of limbo. At last count, more than 83,000 people were waiting to sit their driving tests while another 50,000 were stuck in the backlog of driving lessons and test eligibility. That is more than 130,000 citizens affected. These are not just statistics. These are young people who are unable to take up work in rural areas, parents who cannot drive their children to school or jobseekers who are forced to turn down offers because they cannot get a full licence in time. What is the Government's response? More promises of hiring 75 testers and reducing waiting times by September. Forgive me if I do not hold my breath. We have heard it all before. Time and again, the RSA has missed its own deadlines, yet there are no penalties or consequences, just soft excuses and hard impacts for working people.

Let me be very clear. This is not just an inconvenience. It is a barrier to employment, education and independence. In rural counties like Meath where I come from, public transport is not an option. It is a fantasy. People either drive or they are stranded. This is the case in many parts of rural Ireland. At this stage, we have all heard stories of people who have had to quit college because they cannot make the commute. We have heard stories of people who have had to put their lives on hold because they cannot wait for the retest. This is not acceptable in a functioning society.

What do I propose? First, hold the RSA accountable. We should introduce financial penalties when waiting time targets are missed, just as we do with the NCT contractors. Second, we should expand the number of permanent driving testers, not temporary contracts or Band-Aid solutions. Third, we should open additional test centres in high-demand areas, particularly in rural Ireland where the need is greatest. Finally, we should explore online systems for cancellations and rescheduled bookings to speed up the process and allow motivated candidates to fill the no-show slots.

If we continue to ignore this problem, we are telling an entire generation that their time, plans and lives simply do not matter. I will not accept that and I urge the Government to stop managing headlines and start managing the system. The people of Ireland deserve better.

Imelda Goldsboro (Fianna Fail)
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As the Fianna Fáil spokesperson for transport and as a member of the transport committee, I welcome the Minister of State. I will not to reiterate what my colleagues have said. We all know the figures and the statistics, which are there for everybody to see. There are a number of concerns. I acknowledge the proactive work of the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, in addressing this situation as a matter of urgency. I look forward to the website being updated.

What is the timeframe? We have heard that the waiting times will be reduced to ten weeks by September. Is there a contingency plan in place? Will this situation be monitored closely? Will somebody be held accountable if we do not meet those targets?

Where I am from in Tipperary South, the waiting time is 27 weeks. Waiting times in Thurles are 23 weeks and in Clonmel they are 28 weeks. When we look at the figures, we see 8,000 no-shows. That is 8,000 people who did not show up for their tests over the past two years. We need to consider penalising no-shows. I understand that there can be emergencies, illnesses or a sudden need for a cancellation, but 8,000 tells its own story.

In rural Ireland, we do not have a metro, a Luas, a DART or even public bus services in many of our villages. We rely on our parents and on our licence to drive a car to give us independence. In the terms and conditions of most jobs now, the first criteria are about education. Many of our sons and daughters can meet the education criteria, but when one reads the fine print, it says that a full licence is required. People not having a full licence, through no fault of their own, is a significant barrier. It takes people out of the workforce and away from having a bright future here in Ireland. It means they have to go back on social welfare or consider emigrating, all through no fault of their own.

Younger people are trying to get on the employment ladder or looking for work experience. In rural areas, we do not have a lot of businesses or shops. These young people have to travel. They need to get to the nearest town or city from their houses. Parents are working and it is up to family members such as grandparents to step in. They cannot do this on a regular basis.When we look at challenges families face every day we see students going to college and trying to educate themselves. It is difficult for families financially to put a son or daughter through college because they must pay fees and accommodation fees. If that son or daughter had a full driving licence, it would have a positive impact on their lives and those of their parents.

This is an issue in Mullinahone, Clooneen, Fethard, Ballyporeen, Emly and right across Tipperary South. I have spoken to students, younger people and people in their late to mid-20s who are still waiting for a driving test. It is not good enough. This is a matter of urgency. I know the Minister of State will convey this information to the Minister but my concern is about who will monitor the situation over the next few weeks to ensure the waiting list is reduced to ten weeks by September.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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Anois Seanadóirí Collins agus Tully.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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We wish to share time.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I will speak about the delay in driving tests, which is an issue that has spiralled completely out of control. At the end of April, the national backlog had grown to a staggering 83,486 applicants, a number mentioned across the floor this evening. It has increased by 10,000 since the start of the year and by 20,000 in the past six months. The average waiting time is now 27.3 weeks or nearly seven months. In some areas, learners must wait anything up to ten months for a test.

In County Limerick, the average waiting time has more than doubled in the past year. In 2024, the waiting period was an unacceptable 11 weeks but today it is 23 weeks. Someone who applies for a test in County Limerick this morning will be lucky to get a test date for before October or November of this year. That is only if they get through the booking system.

Wait times are not just a matter of inconvenience. They stop people from getting to work, college, school and medical appointments. I have heard from young apprentices who cannot take up jobs, parents who must juggle chaotic schedules and rural residents who are effectively stranded. The worst part is that we have been here before. The issue has been debated repeatedly in this Chamber and in the Dáil.

In February, Sinn Féin tabled a motion providing for a full suite of solutions, including matching demand with resources, cutting waiting times to the statutory maximum of ten weeks, recruiting more permanent, not temporary, testers, expanding and strategically locating test centres and reviewing the RSA's ability to manage this crisis. The Government did not oppose our motion but did absolutely nothing with it. That was lip service, not leadership. Now, the situation has worsened even further.

The RSA claims it will recruit 200 testers by November but even that might not be enough. It has not said how it arrived at that number of 200. At this rate, it could be 2026 before we see a real change. Meanwhile, learners must literally pay the price. They fork out €3,000, and sometimes more, just to get on the road. They are locked into extortionate insurance rates because they cannot get a full licence but the Government's line is that there is unprecedented demand" and there are too many no-shows and a Covid hangover. Let us be honest; those are excuses and not explanations. Yes, demand is high but predictable. Yes, no-shows are a problem but actually only account for 10% of the backlog. Even if no one ever missed a test again, there would still be tens of thousands of people waiting. The backlog is a result of mismanagement, underfunding and a complete lack of political will from successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, now aided by their regional Independent partners who have gone strangely silent since taking their place on the Government benches. Some of those very Independents used to rail against these delays; now they sit quietly as things get worse. The courage of their convictions seems to have evaporated.

I highlight the lack of sufficient test centres in growing areas. Drogheda, for instance, has no test centre despite being the largest town in the country. Backlogs have real consequences. For example, they result in delays in training and recruitment of essential workers like paramedics and bus drivers, force learner drivers to remain on permits indefinitely and create serious safety risks, with hundreds of unaccompanied learner drivers involved in crashes. The Government tells us it is working on it. The Minister is likely to mention a meeting with the RSA and announce new measures. If he does, let us be clear that these measures should have been introduced months ago when Sinn Féin tabled its motion. They are only being announced now due to public and political pressure.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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As already mentioned, the waiting times for driver tests are totally unacceptable, with over 83,000 people now waiting. The number has ballooned since the beginning of the year. At the beginning of January, it stood at 72,000 and it is now over 83,000. In some centres, the number of people waiting has doubled or tripled in the last year.

The RSA has stated the waiting time should be between ten and 12 weeks, so it is in breach of its own service level agreement. In 2019, the average wait time was six weeks. It is now 27.1 weeks, or almost seven months, and it is over ten months in some centres. The RSA does not seem to be planning for the future or ensuring it keeps up with the numbers because the wait lists are increasing all the time. This is badly affecting students and young adults. There has been an increase in the number of unaccompanied drivers being caught by the Garda. We cannot condone driving unaccompanied but many of these people feel they have no option because they must get to their work, the location of their apprenticeship or their place of study and because they have no way of getting there, they take their chances and drive while they await a driving test.

The RSA has stated it aims to recruit 200 testers but is that a sufficient number? At present, there are 130 testers and if 70 people are recruited, the number of testers will increase to 200. I understand 13 testers are in training. Will 70 testers be trained? Who is to say that when people have been trained they will take up the position? The last time there was a recruitment drive, many of those who completed the training did not take up a position. To combat that, the terms and conditions are better this time. I hope all the trainees will take up the role but there is no guarantee. Has the RSA taken into account the number of testers who will retire in the next short while?

The wait time in Cavan is approximately five months. Last night, a parent contacted me and told me her son had applied in March but will not get a test until the end of August. She told me he has got a job for the summer which requires a driver's licence so he will be unable to take up that job. A private company has introduced an app that informs people of any test cancellations in an area. The mother told me her son bought the app for €15 and installed it on his phone but there is a queuing time of an hour to be notified of a cancellation. That option is not working either. I do not know why it takes a private company to do this. The RSA should inform people of cancellations and maintain a list.

As a number of Senators mentioned, there are over 2,000 driving instructors in this country. They are knowledgeable as regards the rules of the road and the driving test marking scheme. With very little training, they could be asked to do tests a couple of days a week and they are willing to do so. That is one way to deal with the huge backlog in driving tests.

I will mention a related matter, although it differs slightly from the issue of waiting times, namely, people returning from living abroad who want to transfer their driving licence to an Irish one. I have mentioned this issue before. People who want to change their driving licence from an Australian one to an Irish have been told there is a wait time of between three and five months. This means they cannot drive or get insurance for that period. That wait time is absolutely ridiculous. It only takes about two weeks in Australia to do the same task. These are people who had full Irish driving licences, went to Australia for a couple of years and transferred their licences so they could drive in Australia. Now that they have returned, they have to wait between three and five months for a procedure that only takes a couple of days in Australia. This matter needs to be addressed.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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As all previous speakers said, the current waiting times for driving tests are unacceptably long. This is having a very real impact on the lives of young people. I will not repeat what other Senators have said. Young people in rural constituencies like mine are unable to leave home, whether to go to college or work, because of the scarcity of town centre housing and its cost.The expansion of Local Link services has helped immensely but the reality is that most people in rural Ireland still need a car to get around. Under the current system, people are left waiting extensive periods for a test and frequently fail for no reason other than the way it is structured. We are all in favour of a rigorous testing regime that only certifies safe drivers to drive, but the situation seems to have got out of hand with delays to test times leading to fails, which leads to more pressure on retests, resulting in longer wait times.

The Minister of State said he is looking for suggestions. I have a suggestion for him from a very well-regarded instructor in Sligo who gave me his analysis of what is wrong in the system and, more importantly, how to fix it. We are all aware that getting the provisional licence is a big stage in a young person's life and most people are keen to get on with learning to drive as soon as they get their provisional licence. Consequently, it is not unusual for the learner to have completed the 12 essential driving lessons within the first four months of holding the provisional licence, at which point they are at peak preparedness to pass the test. However, because the first-time learner permit holder cannot sit the driving test until he or she has held the provisional driver licence for six months, this peak then comes at exactly the wrong time. With the current waiting lists of anywhere between five to ten months between applying for the test and getting the test date, most people cannot afford to keep on paying for weekly lessons for an additional six to 12 months. They lose preparedness and subsequently fail their test. If we trust driver instructors to instruct, we should also be prepared to trust them to assess a candidate's ability and suitability to take a test. The first proposal is to replace the mandatory six-month wait with a certification that the candidate is ready to take the test or allow the learner driver to apply for the test as soon as they get the provisional licence with a fixed date of six to 12 months into the future, as one would book the NCT online. This could include payment of a non-refundable fee to ensure the learner is committed to the date. In no way does it impact on the necessity of the learner to complete the minimum of 12 lessons. This would allow the learner and the instructor to plan and to structure a learning programme that optimises the learner's chance of passing without a large gap in the frequency of lessons and without them having to do a more intensive programme of lessons. If we do not take seriously the need to change the format, our waiting will only get longer. Because of this break in the relationship between the instructor and the learner, just when it is needed and which will help to make our roads more safe, underprepared students are sitting tests without any adequate pretest preparation. The instructor said to me that he is told regularly "I just need a lesson to refresh myself before the test" because the learner may not have had a lesson for six to 12 months. They are a mile off being ready for the test and this cannot be resolved within a week or two.

Our form system, based on this instructor's detailed idea, which I will send into the Minister of State's Department, allows the pupil to plan for a learning schedule within a fixed window of time. As they learn, their approved driving instructor will gauge how are they progressing and how many lessons each learner is likely to need. Most instructors know their students well enough and, after four to six weeks, would be able to judge their ability. Some people take to driving more naturally than others but I certainly was not one of those people, I failed my test four times. We should trust driving instructors to judge a learner's progress and help young people to achieve what is a major and essential to life skill.

Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. As we have heard across the House today, Ireland is facing a critical challenge with driving test waiting times, which we know have reached unprecedented levels. I will not repeat some of the figures we have heard today but we know some test centres have waiting lists four times the RSA's target of ten weeks. This backlog is not just an inconvenience. It has terrible consequences. Learners are generally paying sky-high insurance premiums, often around €3,000 annually, while waiting to sit their test. Many are unable to take up job offers, apprenticeships or college places that require a full licence. In rural areas where public transport is limited, the delays are particularly damaging. Calls are growing for the establishment of more permanent test centres especially in underserved areas like my hometown of Drogheda, as Senator Collins mentioned, which despite being Ireland's largest town still lacks a test centre of its own. I have been in constant contact with the RSA, first as a journalist and now as a Senator, since we lost our temporary test centre two years ago. Closing it at the time was the right decision as it was not in a suitable location, but at the time of closing, 2,200 people were waiting for their tests. They were all redeployed to neighbouring test centres, but this put untold pressure on them. The current waiting time in Navan, as we heard from Senator Nelson Murray, has increased to nine months. I am not being glib in saying, and I agree with Senator Cosgrove, that a person could potentially have forgotten how to drive if he or she had no access to a car in that space of time. It is a far cry from the RSA desired times of just ten weeks. I have liaised constantly with the RSA to provide suggested locations in Drogheda and I hope a resolution can be reached soon and tests can once again be taken in south Louth.

Paraic Brady (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State. I will not rehash everything everybody has said. I agree with it. I will just say one thing to the Minister of State. It is coming to the stage now where young people will not actually wait to get their driving test. Perhaps they have secured employment and the mother and father are no longer fit to bring these people to work at 7.30 or eight o'clock in the morning, so now we see young people actually going to work without having done their driving test. We are actually forcing our youths onto the roads without a full driver's licence because the system has failed. We have had several cases in Longford disclosed in the past week. We have a young fella who is after getting into the fire services. He was told that if he does not have a full licence, he does not pick up the job. Another girl is a teacher in a school in Newtown Forbes and her parents have to drive from Abbeylara to Newtown Forbes every day, down and back, and pick her up. It is unacceptable that we have people working in the HSE who have not got their driver's licence. We need to prioritise people in these sectors. Teachers, fire services personnel and those working in the HSE have to get priority over everybody else because they work in a sector that is in need of them.

I just hope we can get a handle on this. I agree with the sentiments expressed by everyone else here. If somebody is fit to teach somebody, they should also be fit to instruct on whether they have passed or whether they have failed. Perhaps we need to take some driving instructors from several other counties and move them to a different county where instructors are needed. We need to speed up this process and try to get these people onto the roads in a safe and due manner - these and everybody else. I thank the Minister of State for his time.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I raised this issue in 2023 on Cavan County Council. The driving test wait times in Cavan were shocking. A huge number of young people in rural parts of the country rely on private transport to get to and from college, training, football and jobs. I myself have a big lump of a lad who is 22 years of age and his mammy is dropping him off to rugby training. They are well fit and well capable but they still have to wait a huge amount of time to get their licence. When I raised this back in February 2023, the wait time in Cavan was 18 weeks. In April 2023, we received a reply from the Road Safety Authority to say there were 75 additional new instructors hired and this would help to clear the backlog and reduce the waiting times. I am seeing in the newspapers the exact same thing about the 75 additional driving instructors. Are these new driving instructors or are they old driving instructors? Are they driving instructors who were recruited in 2023 or are they only starting out now to actually test? Two years later in Cavan, our waiting list is 26 weeks to sit a driving test. Since 2022, there has been a 60% increase in the country in the number of people waiting to sit their tests. The issue here is supply and demand. We do not have the number of permanent driving instructors to address the backlog.

People in rural areas have no public transport. They need permits, they need to be driving, and they need to be independent. We need a direct response from the Road Safety Authority as to what measures they are putting in place to address this serious situation. I want confirmation from the Minister of State on the proposed new driving instructors. What is the timeline for when they are expected to be in place and actually doing tests?

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today on a really serious topic. I am not going rehash everything that has been said. However, the situation in Kerry is particularly concerning. According to the latest figures, the waiting time for a driving test in Tralee averages approximately 26 or 27 weeks, while in Killarney, applicants face a delay of up to 15 weeks. These prolonged waiting times are unacceptable and place undue stress on individuals who need their licences to work or provide essential services.

I am most concerned about the failure rate across the country. In my county of Kerry, the pass rate is 53.6% in Tralee and 52.8% in Killarney. That is unacceptable. That may be the result of bad learning behaviour or techniques picked up by these kids. I do not know the cause. If 100 kids are sitting their tests today in Kerry, 50 of them will go back on the list. Rather than beating around the bush, I will suggest that other things may be at play here.

I congratulate the Department on the work it has done already. Some 70 additional testers have been employed and we hope that figure will be up to 200 by September or November. One practical suggestion for Kerry would be the establishment of a new driving test centre in Listowel. People from north Kerry must go to Tralee, where the waiting list is so long. People are now travelling further to Killarney. It is totally unacceptable. My son has been playing a lot of football recently. He is on that waiting list. Getting him to training and games is a heartache. It is unacceptable.

I urge the Minister and the RSA to prioritise these issues and install a driving test centre in Listowel, which will relieve a lot of stress for parents.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Members for their contributions. There is nothing that divides us in this debate, including the need for action and proactivity. I reiterate that the Minister and Ministers of State in the Department, in particular Deputy Canney, recognise everything Senators have said today. I smile when I hear people talk abut managing headlines. The only headline I want refers to a reduction in waiting times. We want the people about whom all of the Senators spoke to be able to get a test. We are committed to that. If I wanted to manage a headline, I would come into the House and offer different propaganda. I did not do that. The waiting times are unacceptable and we accept that. We want to solve the issue, not to spin, or to go out on social media, get a headline with our supporters and blame the Government for everything that is wrong. What we must do is to put in place a reliable, high-quality driver testing service that is available to all our neighbours and family members across the country.

We are actively looking at additional centres, including one in Drogheda. We have started the process of recruitment. We are conscious as a Government, as I am as the Minister of State with responsibility for rural transport, of the deficit of public transport in rural life and areas. We are committed to increasing the supply of public transport, as we have. Let us be clear, no matter who we are or where we come from ideologically, we are all in agreement about the need to decisively address the long-standing issue relating to service provision and ensure we get answers for our friends, families and neighbours.

The ten-week target time must be achieved because of the examples Senators have shared in the Chamber and those with which we deal every day. Delays have a high impact on the lives of people. Senators Brady, Sarah O'Reilly, Tully and Cosgrove all gave examples of people whose lives and livelihoods have been impacted. It is a rite of passage. We need to take back that ten-week waiting time.

It is about ensuring as part of our road safety strategy that we meet our ambition of halving our road deaths and serious injuries this decade. That will be done by having a service that is competent and delivers, and ensures that all drivers are well-trained and equipped to deal with the challenges of a modern road network and what driving requires of us all.

Let me be clear. I will go to Ballina and will bring Senator Duffy with me. We need accountability. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, has met representatives of the RSA. There has been engagement and a restructuring of the RSA is coming. The RSA, which is the statutory body, has given a commitment to returning the service to the target average waiting time of ten weeks by early September. As I said, this will happen in a number of stages. At the end of this month, the average waiting time will be 22 weeks and at the end of June, it will be 18 weeks, and so on.

Let me make a point to the people who speak about accountability. The RSA will publish its plan on Thursday. It will set out the pathway and timeline. It will then report to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, on the progress of its plan every two weeks. I hope those in this Chamber who spoke about the headline piece will remember that the RSA will report every two weeks to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. That will give greater transparency to Members of the Oireachtas and, more importantly, to an gná duine, the citizen outside who is coming to us with expectations and demands. Where there is a risk that the September timeline will not be met, the RSA has been instructed to ensure that contingency plans and remedial measures are put in place and ready to deploy to ensure there is no slippage in that timeline.

As I have said, our population has increased significantly. There was a record number of applicants for a driving test last year. There were 275,000 new test applications. The RSA is responsible and the Department is working to support it. The additional driving testers who were sanctioned have been recruited. Some of them started last month and others are starting this month. There has been a doubling of the staff sanctioned in a two-year period. More than 200 roles have been advertised. The numbers reflect the fact that between 2023 and 2024, waiting times halved. That is where the number comes from in terms of the whole piece around recruitment.

Senator Tully mentioned the issue of retirement, which needs to be factored in, and I am told it has been. The RSA has told us it is confident that the permanent positions now on offer will attract and retain more testers than was the case with the temporary sanction. We will see those vacancies filled fully.

As additional testers enter the system, the testing capacity will increase and progress should be seen in a reduction in waiting times. Senator Lynch asked about the timeline for testers being put in place. There has been a change in respect of overtime and work patterns. I thank the existing staff, who do an incredible job. They are not at fault for the delay. They are doing the best they can. Perhaps in some cases there is a persnicketiness around different things. We must remember that extensive voluntary overtime helped last year. That included weekend rostering and working. The incentivisation programme is being considered for this year as well.

I will clear up an anomaly and misunderstanding about the IT system. The RSA introduced a new IT system, which brought about improvements to maximise the number of test slots and reduce the number of test slots lost due to cancellations and no-shows. I reiterate for Members that once individuals have been invited to book tests, they can book slots that have been released at short notice following a cancellation on the MyRoadSafety portal. I will take back Senator Tully's point that a one-hour wait on the app is too long. It should be easier and user-friendly. Nothing is worse than bad customer service or poor apps. I am sure all of us have been on different systems to book things. As you get to the ninth step of ten, you miss something and must go back to the first step. I will bring back the Senator's point. I will give a figure to the Members of the House. It is a minor figure that shows the system is working. Prior to the change in the system, we had a 95% utilisation rate. The rate is now up to 98%. That shows this is working and that transparency in terms of publishing information does work.

I reiterate that I and my colleagues in government recognise the significant impact this is having on people. We are making changes and trying to improve public transport. My role in the Department of Rural and Community Development is also about ensuring we have a better public transport offering. There is a commitment by the RSA. On Thursday, we will see the publication of the plan for a waiting time of ten weeks by September. That plan will set out the actions. We will hold the RSA to account. I am confident the targets for service improvement will deliver real progress beginning this month. Reducing waiting times is a priority. We should not compromise on testing standards and we should ensure that recruitment delivers sufficient testing capacity of an appropriate standard.

Senator Craughwell's contribution is one that I will consider, but the issue of pension abatement may be a stumbling block. I thank the Senator for his comments and his commitment. We are at the beginning of a new chapter. I hope that when I or the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, come back to the House, we will see the additional capacity bringing a solution, wait times being progressively reduced and a better outcome for people. I thank all Senators for their contributions.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State back to Seanad Éireann, even temporarily.