Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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20. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current average waiting times for driving test appointments in County Louth for each of the licence categories; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3648/25]

Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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21. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current longest waiting times for driving test appointments in County Louth for each of the licence categories; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3649/25]

Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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22. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current average waiting times in County Louth between being offered an appointment to book a driving test, getting an appointment for the test and sitting a test [3650/25]

Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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23. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the plans that are in place to address waiting times for driving tests in County Louth. [3651/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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38. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport what provision is being made for those who had their driving tests cancelled during the red weather alert during Storm Éowyn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3894/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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39. 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. [3897/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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40. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the actions that have been taken in the past 12 months to improve waiting times for driving tests. [3898/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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41. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide details on the current waiting times for each driving test centre, including the number of people waiting for tests and waiting to be invited to apply for a test, and monthly break down, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3899/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 23, inclusive, and 38 to 41, inclusive, 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, This includes measures to address the impact of the recent storm. 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 Deputies 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:

Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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24. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to provide an urgent update on the provision of a permanent driving test centre in Drogheda, County Louth; the communication that has taken place between his Department and the RSA over the past 12 months regarding this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3652/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the Driver Testing Service including the provision of test centres and their locations. As such, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct, detailed reply. I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten days.

Pending this full response, I am informed that the RSA are continuing to work with the Office of Public Works on finding a suitable test centre site for Drogheda but have been unsuccessful to date.