Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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79. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason there are such long waiting lists at the driving test centre in Nenagh; and his plans to deal with them. [16150/25]

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. As such, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct, detailed response in respect of the particular test centre cited. Please contact my office if a response has not been received within 10 days.Pending this detailed response, I acknowledge that current driving test waiting times across the country, including in Nenagh, 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 in March and expected to enter live testing in April. 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.