Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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110. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he or his Department officials have analysed the possibility of introducing a statutory ten-week wait time for the RSA to provide driving tests, such as what exists for the NCT; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34069/25]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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The National Driver Testing Service is operated by the Road Safety Authority as part of its statutory duties. It is not a service provided for by way of contract and driver testers and other staff of the Authority who run the service are directly employed by the State. The agreed Service Level Agreement with the Department of Transport is for a 10 week average wait time.

The National Driver Testing Service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand with the growth in people seeking tests accelerating. This has put significant pressure on wait times with current wait times far above what should reasonably be expected. The return to the 10 week period is a priority for me and my Department.

In that regard and at my direction, the RSA on 22 May published a comprehensive action plan to return the target average driver testing wait time to 10 weeks by early September. This plan sets out the actions that will be taken by the RSA to achieve this goal.

As of 14 June, the RSA is reporting that the average national waiting time for a driving test stood at approximately 18 weeks. This builds on the progress to end of May which saw wait times of approximately 21 weeks and is an improvement of almost 9 weeks on the wait time at the end of April of 27 weeks.

This progress has been achieved through a number of positive actions taken by the RSA including around accelerated driver tester training, extended testing hours including at evening time, weekends/ Bank Holidays and positive interventions in relation to the operation of the booking system to ensure slots are available in places with the highest demand and wait time.. It is also positive that two new centres will soon be opening in Drogheda and Sandyford which should assist in reducing average wait times.

It is vital that this positive trend continues and that the RSA, at a minimum, meets the targets set out in its published plan.

The long-term fix to this issue will be the recruitment and onboarding of new driver testers in the months ahead and will ensure that the RSA can continue to deliver a greater number of tests year on year. It is positive that 30 additional testers are expected to be deployed into the service across the month of July. As additional testers enter the system, testing capacity will increase and progress should continue to be seen on reducing waiting times in the months ahead.

To support the RSA in increasing testing capacity and improving service delivery, in September 2024 the Department of Transport sanctioned an additional 70 permanent positions for driver testers. This increases the total permanent sanction for testers to 200. The recruitment and training processes are underway and the RSA expect to have 200 testers in the system by September this year. This will represent a doubling of permanent posts since June 2022.

Should any deviations from projected timelines arise these must be immediately addressed with the Department of Transport. 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 should the need arise.

Finally, I must note that the National Car Testing service operates on a different model to driver testing. The NCT is statutorily a responsibility of the RSA also but is contracted out to a private sector service provider. While the RSA's contract with the provider provides for performance targets, neither these nor those for the driver testing service are set out in statute.