Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

124. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to address the long driving test wait times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18092/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the operation of the National Driver Testing Service. Nevertheless, 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 to enter live testing later 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.

To alleviate pressure on the service, Driver testing is offered on Saturdays where driver testers are available to do overtime and there are also additional morning and evening test slots offered where daylight allows. This has been the case since the current backlog in driving tests started to build up. Sunday overtime is not offered as the RSA need to be mindful of working hours rules and therefore Sunday overtime would not add any additional capacity to the Driver Testing Service.

The Deputy may also wish to know that to further assist with reducing waiting times, a change was made to the booking system to allow any unused test slots to be made available for candidates to take up at short notice. If a driving test is cancelled at short notice, the RSA now make this appointment available to the general public on the MyRoadSafety portal.