Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the RSA has statutory responsibility for the National Driving Test service.

As the employer of driver testers, contractual terms are a matter for the RSA. However, I am informed that at the end of 2023 there were 177 testers employed by the Authority, of which 127 were on permanent contracts and 50 on shorter term contracts. Shorter term contracts are typically for a period of 24 months initially.

The driver testing service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand over the past year. Following a request for additional resources from the RSA, last March my Department gave approval for the recruitment of up to 75 additional driver testers. This brings the current total number of sanctioned driver tester posts to 205, which is more than double the 100 sanctioned testing posts in June 2022.

At the end of 2023, there was a net increase of 41 driver testers across the service as a result of this sanction, with additional testing capacity deployed to the geographical areas with the longest waiting times and highest demand for tests.

At the end of December, the national average wait time for a candidate to be invited for a test was 22.5 weeks. This is well above the service level agreement target of 10 weeks, and I am acutely aware of the difficulties excessive wait times are still causing for people across the country. However, wait times have been on a steady downward trend since the end of August, when they peaked at 30.4 weeks. This reduction corresponds with the deployment of the first tranche of new testers in September.

Sanction remains in place for the Authority to increase the number of testers to further alleviate current pressures on the service. My Department is working closely with the Authority to monitor demand and capacity requirements of the driver testing service to ensure it meets the agreed service level of average wait times of 10 weeks, which the Authority expects to achieve by mid-2024.