Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. There are four test centres in County Tipperary. Throughout the county at the end of February, 600 tests were scheduled and a further 1,605 applicants were waiting to receive an invitation to book their test.

As of the most recent figures for the end of February, the average wait time to be invited to sit test was 27 weeks in Clonmel, 19 in Nenagh, ten in Thurles and seven in Tipperary town.

As the Deputy will be aware, in many locations across the country, including Tipperary, the average wait time to take a driver test is far too long. The driver testing service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand and, following a request for additional resources from the RSA, last March my Department gave approval for the recruitment of up to 75 additional driver testers. This brings the current total number of sanctioned driver tester posts to 205, which is more than double the 100 sanctioned testing posts in June 2022.

At the end of 2023, there was a net increase of 41 driver testers across the service as a result of this sanction, with additional testing capacity deployed to the geographical areas with the longest waiting times and highest demand for tests. Clonmel has received an additional two driver testers as part of this recruitment, though it is important to note that testers can and do carry out tests outside of their base location in response to demand.

At the end of February, the national average wait time for a candidate to be invited for a test was 16.9 weeks. This is still above the service level agreement, SLA, target of ten weeks and I am acutely aware of the difficulties excessive wait times are still causing for people across the country. Wait times have, however, been on a steady downward trend since the end of August, when they peaked at 30.4 weeks. This reduction corresponds with the deployment of the first tranche of new testers in September.

My Department is working closely with the RSA to monitor demand and capacity requirements of the driver testing service to ensure it meets the agreed service level of average wait times of ten weeks, which the RSA expects to achieve by the middle of the year.

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