Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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278. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the average waiting time for a driving test in each driving test centre in each county; and the plans that are in place to reduce the waiting times. [1794/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service. Given the RSA's responsibility in this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct, detailed reply. Please contact my private office if a response is not received within ten days.

Pending this detailed response, to address the issue of driver testing waiting times, in September 2024 my Department sanctioned an additional 70 permanent positions for driver testers. This increases the total permanent sanction for testers to 200, which represents a doubling of permanent posts since June 2022.

As a condition of sanction, my officials have requested that a plan is put in place to restore waiting times to 10 weeks as soon as possible. I understand that recruitment is well underway and additional capacity will enter the service in the coming months, helping to progressively reduce waiting times.

The Deputy may also wish to note that the RSA publish detailed monthly information on the driver testing service on the CSO website, including the breakdown of waiting times and distribution of testing capacity by test centre. This information is available at the following link: .