National average waiting time for driving test is 27 weeks

At some of the busiest test centres, the current wait time is 43 weeks.

Waiting times for driving tests have not met statutory maximums for three years, the Dáil was told.

By law, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is obliged to provide a test within 10 weeks, but the national average waiting time is now 27 weeks. 

At some of the busiest test centres, the current wait time is 43 weeks.

Sinn Féin TD Darren O'Rourke told a Dáil session on driving test wait times that it was June 2022 when the wait time was last 10 weeks. 

Junior transport minister Seán Canney told the debate that the RSA plans to have the 10-week waiting time in place later this year.

He said that the Government "does not consider the current situation acceptable" and that "significant staffing sanction" has been put in place to help alleviate the issue.

"With the first new recruits entering service in April, we should see some progress in reducing waiting times by the end of May. 

"That is not too long away. 

"This progress will accelerate across the summer as additional tranches of recruits complete their training and enter live testing.

"With this additional capacity, the RSA plans to achieve the 10-week target in September. 

"In the longer term, the reform of the RSA and the introduction of a revised curriculum and testing regime will be important measures in delivering a better service."

The wait time has not been 10 weeks since June 2022.

Mr Canney said that he had asked RSA chief Sam Waide to come up with new measures to get the testing wait times down and had spoken to him on Wednesday morning, where he had been assure that this would happen. 

He said he had requested the RSA to publish its plan on its website next week, report progress against it on a fortnightly basis and publish that report on its website. 

His government colleague, minister of state Jerry Buttimer, said that the Indecon review of the RSA, which recommended the authority split its functions, should be implemented in full.

Mr Canney said that the growth in wait times "has arisen due to a fundamental mismatch between the demand for driver tests and the available testing capacity in the RSA in recent years" and that there had been a hangover from covid-era backlogs.

Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central Seamus McGrath said that the system must be "reset" as it "disproportionately impacts young people because they are by and large the people seeking a driving test". 

Cork South Central's Padraig Rice said that the average wait time for the Wilton Driving Test Centre in Cork is 35 weeks and for the test centre in Mallow, the average wait time is 36 weeks.

Fine Gael TD Joe Neville said that it was "obvious" that waiting times were increasing, while his colleague Peter Roche said that people were being served ads on social media encouraging them to go abroad to take their tests.

Michael Murphy, the new chair of the Oireachtas transport committee, said that he was considering making the RSA the first organisation called to testify in a bid to "get to the bottom of why waiting times have grown so much".