Waiting times for a driving test have risen significantly since the start of the year, with some people facing a wait of up to 10 months for an appointment.
Ten weeks has long been the target for applicants to take their test, but the latest figures reveal a consistent rise in the average waiting time, which was 15 weeks a year ago, 21 weeks in last January and 24.1 weeks last month.
Road Safety Authority (RSA) figures show that the test centre in Tallaght, Dublin, has the longest waiting time at 42 weeks, up from 25 weeks in January.
An analysis of the RSA figures, conducted by road safety campaign group Parc, shows Navan, Co Meath, has the second longest waiting time at 41 weeks, up from 33 weeks in January.
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In Co Galway, the waiting time at Carnmore is 39 weeks, an increase of 11 weeks since January.
The increased waits have been attributed to a rise in the number of no-shows, applicants who pay for a test but then fail to arrive. As many as 6,440 learner drivers failed to show up for their test in 2023 and this increased to 8,663 last year.
The shortest wait for a test, 17 weeks, was at Newcastle West, Co Limerick. This was down from 21 weeks in January, one of the few centres to report a fall in waiting times.
The shortest waiting times in January, 13 weeks, were at the centres in Killarney, Co Kerry, and Kilrush, Co Clare. However, applicants in Killarney in March faced a 26-week wait and it has risen to 21 weeks in Kilrush.
Others facing lengthy waiting times include applicants for tests in Dún Laoghaire (33 weeks); Mallow (33 weeks); Raheny (32 weeks – up from 20 weeks in January); Finglas (32 weeks – up from 21 weeks); Wilton in Cork city (32 weeks) and Wicklow (32 weeks).
Susan Gray of Parc criticised what she called a failure to tackle those who did not attend for tests, saying they were “clogging up the whole system”.
“They simply apply to the RSA for a driving test date at a fee of €85 and fail to turn up for scheduled test,” she said.
“Then they use the booking confirmation letter to renew their permit every time with no need to ever sit the test.”
She said there were 38 learners involved in fatal crashes between 2019 and 2023. Of these, 15 happened in 2023. In 14 cases the permit holder was not accompanied by a qualified driver. In the same five period, she said, 352 learner drivers were involved in serious injury collisions and 260 (74 per cent) were driving unaccompanied.
Ms Gray said a 2017 RSA review had called for measures to be “explored” to end the possibility of people receiving third and fourth learner permits without taking a test. She said nothing had been done about the issue since.
However, the RSA has said that restricting the number of permits a learner can hold required legislative change. A spokesman said last year was a record one for tests with 253,850 carried out, up from 196,853 in 2023.
The last government in September approved the appointment of 70 additional permanent driver testers, which will increase the number to 200, up from 100 in 2022, the spokesman said.
Forty-one testers have been hired to date this year, up from none last year and 19 in 2023, according to material released to The Irish Times under freedom of information laws. The RSA at present employed 146 driver testers, it said.
The RSA confirmed plans to roll out a new course for driver testers later this year. The level-six course in assessment and evaluation will be accredited by Quality and Qualifications Ireland, the state agency responsible for the external quality assurance of further and higher education and training. It is expected to be introduced in the last three months of this year.
The Department of Transport said it was committed to addressing the issue of learner permits and was working on legislation.
“It is not possible to give a timeline for implementation at this point, as the legislation must be in place and the Driver Testing Service must have sufficient capacity to meet any potential increase in testing demand that might arise from these changes,” it said in a statement.
