Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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23. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures that will be implemented to eliminate unacceptable delays in applicants receiving appointments for driving tests in the Cavan test centre; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that much inconvenience is caused to applicants through late cancellations, in many instances within a very short time of the test being due to be undertaken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10499/23]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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28. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when additional driver testers will be appointed to the Cavan test centre, in view of the delays in applicants receiving appointments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10498/23]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 28 together.

The operation of the national driving test service is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority (RSA). However, I would like to assure the Deputy that my Department is working closely with the Authority to address the issue of Driver Testing waiting times, which is at unacceptable levels across the state.

The current national average waiting time for invitation to test is 21 weeks, far above the service level agreement of 10 weeks.

The Driver Testing service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand which is 28% up on 2021 figures and 27% up on 2018 pre Covid-19 pandemic figures.

I am told that the current increase in demand for driving tests and the time to invitation for learner drivers has a number of contributing factors which include: an increase in learner permits in circulation which has grown by about 30% since Q3 2019; increased capacity in the Driver Theory Test when the service resumed post Covid-19 and an increase in Approved Driving Instructors capacity to deliver lessons to learner drivers which has increased the volume of learners becoming eligible and ready to take their test.

The Authority conducted a review of the current and evolving needs of the driver testing service in 2022, following which my Department sanctioned an increase in the permanent driver tester headcount from 100 to 130.

Deployment of these successful candidates is almost complete and has been focused on geographical areas with the longest waiting lists.

Given the continued backlog, demand and capacity of the driver testing service was further reviewed in late 2022 and early 2023. My Department is actively engaged with the RSA in evaluating this subsequent request for additional resources.

Regarding the point made by the Deputy on late cancellations of driver tests, I am aware that testers may become unavailable at short notice, usually owing to illness or in some cases, bereavement. In these events the Authority will try to redeploy another tester to conduct tests and, if not possible, this will result in test cancellation at short notice.

I acknowledge there is further work to be done to provide the driver testing services each customer deserves and the Authority is committed to delivering.