Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 February 2024
163. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Transport what plans can be put in place to reduce the backlog for driving test appointments; if consideration is being given for appointments to be made available at weekends and evenings as a temporary measure to try to reduce the backlog; if the testers who were employed in 2023 are helping to reduce the backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7480/24]
View answerUnder the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for all aspects of the National Driver Testing Service.
Regarding driver testing delays more generally, the service has been under significant pressure to meet unprecedented demand. Following a request from the RSA for additional resources, 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.
The first tranche of new recruits was deployed last September and the national average waiting time for invitation to test has been decreasing since then. By the end of 2023 there was an increase of 41 driver testers across the driver testing service, with additional testing capacity deployed to the geographical areas with the longest waiting times and highest demand for tests.
Driver testing is offered on Saturdays where driver testers are available to do overtime, there are also additional morning and evening test slots offered where daylight allows. This has been the case since the current backlog in driving tests started to build up. Sunday overtime is not offered as the RSA need to be mindful of working hours rules and therefore Sunday overtime would not add any additional capacity to the Driver Testing Service.
To further assist with reducing waiting times, in October 2023 a change was made to the system to allow any unused slots to be made available for anyone to take up at short notice. If a driving test is cancelled at short notice, the RSA now make this appointment available to the general public on the MyRoadSafety portal.
Sanction remains in place for the Authority to increase the number of testers to further alleviate current pressures on the service. My Department is working closely with the Authority to monitor demand and capacity requirements of the driver testing service to ensure it meets the agreed service level of average wait times of 10 weeks, which the Authority expects to achieve by mid-2024.
