Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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61. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he will put in place to address the backlog in driver theory tests. [32043/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In line with the further easing of restrictions, the gradual re-opening of in-person driver theory test centres commenced on the 8th of June. The Road Safety Authority (RSA) will reopen its network of test centres and will be permitted to conduct 25,000 driver theory tests per month.

Prior to COVID-19, the RSA provided 15,000 tests per month. In light of the significant backlog of customers, the RSA will gradually increase capacity in its test centres to 25,000 tests a month.

The test centres have extensive COVID-19 measures in place to protect both customers and staff and to ensure the safe delivery of the service. It is hoped that capacity will gradually increase to 50,000 tests per month over time, if public health guidance permits.

The RSA has been working to deliver an online theory test service, with a pilot online test already underway for trucks and buses. This pilot service has now been extended to include a limited number of car and motorbike tests.

The new offering will see 4,000 online theory tests available for all categories of vehicles per month. From mid-June, the RSA plans to increase this by a further 6,000. Tests are available on a first-come-first-served basis with the new online service becoming more widely available later in the year.