Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

513. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures that have been taken to address the increasing wait times for driving tests specifically for the centres servicing the Dublin area, and if he will provide an update on the delivery of a new south Dublin test centre. [42969/25]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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 National Driver Testing Service. This includes the provision of test centres, and I understand that a site for a new south Dublin test centre has been identified and that the RSA aims for it to be open and operational in September. Given the RSA's responsibility in this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct, detailed response. Please contact my office if a reply is not received within ten days.

Pending this response, reducing driving test wait times has been one of my priorities since taking office and I directed the RSA to produce and publish a service recovery plan to meet the 10-week average national waiting time target by September. The RSA are reporting to me on progress against their plan on a fortnightly basis and also publishing progress updates on their website. The plan and progress can be found at the following link:

To support the RSA in meeting demand for the driving tests, last September my Department issued sanction for up to 70 additional driver tester posts, bringing the overall permanent sanction to 200, representing a doubling of the comparable figure in July 2022. Recruitment and deployment under this sanction is progressing, with 30 additional driver testers entering live testing during the month of July. This followed a previous deployment of new testers in April of this year, and the RSA expects that a further 18 testers will enter live testing during August. By the end of August, the RSA expects to have employed up to its full sanction of 200 testers, compared to 151 in employment at the beginning of the year (which included some testers on fixed-term contracts). Moreover, as the onboarding of new recruits winds down, testing capacity which has been tied up delivering training in recent months will again be available to deliver tests.

As of 26 July, the national average wait time for a Category B test was just over 14 weeks, with 10 test centres having a wait time of less than 10 weeks. While still above the target and an unacceptable amount of time to wait for a test, it marks a significant improvement on the 27-week wait reported at the end of April. As further additional capacity comes on-stream in the coming weeks, the RSA continues to project that the 10-week target will be achieved by September.