Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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371. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current waiting times for a driving test in Kilkenny and Carlow; his to reduce these waiting times; when we expect to get back to normal service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30458/25]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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As Minister of State for International & Road Transport, Logistics, Rail & Ports, I wish to advise the Deputy that under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service and the information requested regarding waiting times in the Kilkenny and Carlow Test Centres is held by the Authority. I have therefore 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.

More generally, I acknowledge that current waiting times for driving tests are far in excess of what is acceptable and I would like to assure the Deputy that this is a priority issue for me and that measures are being taken to return the service to the agreed 10 week waiting period.

The RSA has published, on their website, a comprehensive action plan to return the target average driver testing wait time to 10 weeks by early September. This plan sets out in detail the actions that will be taken by the RSA to achieve this goal. The plan also includes targets which the RSA is required to report on fortnightly. The Deputy may wish to note that the RSA is reporting that as of 31 May the average national waiting time stands at approximately 21 weeks. This is ahead of the RSA projection of 22 weeks and marks an improvement of 6 weeks on the average wait time of 27 weeks as at the end of April.

In addition, should any deviations from projected timelines arise, these must be immediately addressed with my Department. The RSA has also been instructed to make contingency preparations to deal with any potential slippages that might emerge in relation to this timeline, which should be ready to be activated as quickly as possible if the need arises. The detailed plan is available at www.rsa.ie/services/learner-drivers/the-driving-test/test-waiting-times.

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.

The recruitment process is underway, with the first tranche of new testers now deployed into service. As additional testers enter the system, testing capacity will increase and progress should be seen on reducing waiting times in the months ahead.

While the long-term fix to this issue will be the recruitment and onboarding of new driver testers in the months ahead, the RSA has put in place other immediate measures to try to alleviate the current pressures in the system. The Deputy may wish to note that testing capacity has been extended to include evening, weekend and Bank Holiday slots and testing hours have been extended to include additional morning and evening test slots. This has been the case since the current backlog in driving tests started to build up and allowed for over 700 tests to be scheduled over the Bank Holiday weekend. As part of the RSA's action plan a revised and incentivised overtime scheme is also underway, with testers delivering additional tests across extended timeframes to meet urgent demand.

The driver testing booking system has also been updated to allow for any unused test slots to be made available for candidates to take up at short notice. This change to the system has brought the percentage of testing slots utilised up to 98%, having historically averaged around 95%. The RSA makes these appointments available for candidates to book on the MyRoadSafety portal and I would encourage learner drivers awaiting a test to monitor this channel which may provide an opportunity to book an earlier testing date.