Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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175. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to reduce driving test waiting times, in particular in the Finglas test centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2525/25]

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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176. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way his Department plans to reduce the waiting times for driving tests in the Cork region given the current long wait times. [2528/25]

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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181. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the actions he is taking to reduce the unacceptable waiting time for driving tests in Kilkenny; the number of applicants waiting for a test in each of the past five years; and if other test centres are experiencing the same delays. [2652/25]

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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197. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the average wait time for driving retests in Cork test centres for each month in 2024 and for January 2025; the average wait time for driving tests in Cork test centres in the same periods; the measures that are being taken to address these lengthy wait times for both tests and retests, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2778/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 175, 176, 181 and 197 together.

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 questions 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: