Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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330. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the steps he is taking to address the backlog in people waiting to take driving tests in Cork testing centres. [17965/23]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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331. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will confirm the total number of driving testers which will be employed, including those announced to be recruited recently, by October 2023; and if he will provide a breakdown of how many testers, or full-time equivalent roles, will be assigned to each testing centre by October 2023. [17966/23]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 330 and 331 together.

The operation of the national driving test service is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and the breakdown of testers requested is held by them. I have therefore referred part of the question to the Authority for direct reply. I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response is not received within 10 days.

On the broader issue of driver testing delays, the service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand, which is up 28% on 2021 figures. This 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, increased capacity in the Driver Theory Test and an increase in Advanced Driving Instructors capacity to deliver lessons to learner drivers.

The Authority has reviewed the demand and capacity of the driver testing service and, following a request for additional resources in March 2023, my Department has now given approval for the recruitment of up to 75 driver testers. This is in addition to the 30 testers who were previously sanctioned in July 2022 and have been fully deployed since end of March 2023. This brings the total number of sanctioned driver tester posts to just over 200.

It is expected that once these additional 75 driver testers are recruited, trained and deployed, the backlog for driver testing services will be actively managed such that it will start to reduce from October 2023 and agreed service levels should resume by early-mid 2024.