Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
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293. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when a person (details supplied) will receive a driving test; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8142/25]

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 National Driver Testing Service, this includes all application and scheduling matters.

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.

I agree that current waiting times are far in excess of what is acceptable and I would like to assure the Deputy that measures have been taken to address the issue, however neither I nor my officials are directly involved in the operation of the service nor have we the powers to intervene in individual cases.

To support the RSA in increasing testing capacity and improving service delivery, 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 I expect that we will begin to see progress in the coming months as additional capacity will enter the service helping to progressively reduce waiting times.

I am prioritising this issue in my engagements with the RSA board and senior management.