Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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295. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the proportion of the 72,000 applicants on the waiting list for a driving test which are waiting for tests in each testing centre, in tabular form; his plans to establish another NDLS centre in South Dublin; and his views on the adequacy of provision in South Dublin. [15351/25]

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, including application and scheduling matters and 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.

I acknowledge 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.

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, the RSA was required to put a plan in place to restore the 10-week waiting time target as soon as possible. I understand that the recruitment process is well underway, with the first tranche of new testers having commenced training this month. As additional testers enter the system, testing capacity will increase and I expect that we will begin to see progress on reducing waiting times in the months ahead.

The Deputy may 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: data.cso.ie/product/RSADTS.