Written answers
Wednesday, 24 March 2021
Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
Driver Test
Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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384. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when a person (details supplied) will be issued a date for their driver theory test; if there is an option for them to sit the test remotely; and the length of time it will take to process the backlog of theory tests once level 5 restrictions are lifted. [15682/21]
Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The scheduling of candidates’ driving theory tests is the responsibility of the Road Safety Authority and I have no information on individual cases.
The Driver Theory Test has not been deemed to be an essential service under Level 5 restrictions. The service will remain closed while level 5 restrictions remain in place. While I fully appreciate the inconvenience this poses, I must emphasise, that this decision has been taken in line with official public health recommendations that everyone in Ireland work to limit the spread of the virus by staying at home in so far as is possible and minimising social contacts.
The RSA is engaging with its service provider to examine ways of increasing the number of tests within the current health constraints for when services resume. In this regard, the aim is to double capacity at test centres over a three-month period. Subject to decisions on future Covid 19 restrictions, this will mean that additional capacity would be made available in April, May and June 2021.
Normal capacity before the pandemic was approximately 15,000 tests per month. When the service reopened in July 2020, this was increased to 25,000 to deal with the backlog which had developed by that point. Based on the capacity of 25,000 tests per month, the aim is to provide an additional 25,000 tests per month on top of this for the first 3 months of reopening, or a total of 75,000 extra test appointments over the three-month period. This would make substantial inroads into numbers waiting over that time period.
In addition to the increased capacity initiative, the RSA is working to deliver an online driver theory test service. The online service has been trialled on a pilot basis for those taking a theory test for trucks and buses and is now being evaluated with a view to extending the online service to all test types during 2021. However, scaling up operations to facilitate higher numbers will take time to achieve.
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