'Unacceptable': Cork learner drivers waiting up to 34 weeks to sit their driving test

As of October 31, some 4,602 eligible applicants were waiting to take their driving test at one test centre in Cork City

Nationally, the longest wait times as of the end of last month were found at the Government Buildings test centre in Kilkenny and at the test centre in Mulhuddart in Dublin. File picture

Would-be motorists in Cork are waiting up to eight-and-a-half months for a slot to sit their driving test, according to newly-released figures.

As of October 31, some 4,602 eligible applicants were waiting to take their driving test at the test centre in Wilton in Cork City. According to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), the next available test slot at the centre was June 17, 2024.

At the same centre, 3,043 drivers have had their application for a test date 'paused', meaning they had been issued an invitation to book a test but had not used it within 10 days. A further 1,830 drivers who applied for their exam were deemed to not have met the eligibility criteria to sit it. 

1,132 text applicants had been given a scheduled test date at the centre.

In Skibbereen, applicants were informed they would be waiting 32 weeks for their driving test, with the next available date set for June 2, 2024. In Mallow, wait times were somewhat shorter, with the next available test date set for March 25 of next year—equating to a 22-week wait time.

Nationally, the longest wait times as of the end of last month were found at the Government Buildings test centre in Kilkenny and at the test centre in Mulhuddart in Dublin. At both, applicants were facing a 45-week wait for a test date.

The next-highest wait times were found in Dun Laoghaire/Deansgrange (40 weeks), Tallaght (39 weeks), and Dungarvan in Waterford (38 weeks), where the next available test dates were, July 29, July 22, and July 15, 2024, respectively.

Conversely, the shortest wait times were at the Maple House centre in Mulhuddart, where it was just two months. According to the RSA, the next available test date there was for December 18 of this year.

The next shortest was the centre in Athlone, where applicants were expecting to wait 11 weeks until the next free test date of January 8.

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Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, to whom the figures were released, said the wait times, particularly those in Cork, were “shocking.” 

“To have over 4,500 eligible learner drivers waiting for a test date in Wilton alone is shocking,” he said. “It is almost 7,000 when those across Cork city and county are included."

Mr Gould said it was likely that many of the learner drivers waiting to sit their test needed their car for work, or to drop their children to school. “For many, public transport is not always an option; including those doing shift work and those living in rural areas,” he said.

“These long delays are keeping people out of the workforce and adding barriers to education."

Sinn Féin local area representative for Ballincollig, Joe Lynch, said that despite the promise of more testers in previous years wait times were still “not falling in any substantial way”. “The government need to get serious about this,” he said.

He said it was simply “unacceptable” that Cork drivers were paying for a test now, and not being offered until the middle of next year.

“Cork now has one of the highest wait times for a driving test in the State,” he added. “Yet again, Cork is drawing the short straw when it comes to basic services.”