Driver test delays 'totally intolerable' - Macra

Delays in sitting the driving test are costing provisional drivers over €47 million in higher insurance premiums, according to…

Delays in sitting the driving test are costing provisional drivers over €47 million in higher insurance premiums, according to Macra na Feirme.

Mr Thomas Honner, Macra na Feirme national president, has strongly criticised the latest figures for driving test waiting times, which vary from 10 to 16 months.

Mr Honner described the delays experienced by provisional drivers as "totally intolerable". Macra has proposed that drivers who are not given a driving test within three months should be refunded their €38 application fee.

Mr Honner said that he had recently written to the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, outlining his concerns with the current driver test system.

READ MORE

"I will also be using Macra's role as a Social Partner to highlight the issue and to seek immediate action," Mr Honner added.

Macra has called on Mr Brennan to set clear targets to reduce waiting lists to no more than three months.

It also wants the Department of Transport to set create a group of all stakeholders, including young drivers, to conduct an immediate overhaul of all aspects of driver training and licensing.

Meanwhile Labour Party Spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Brendan Howlin accused the Transport Minister of "sounding like a broken record" on reducing driving test waiting times.

He said: "Driving test applicants in Ireland must now wait on average a full year to sit their test. At the same time they are free to drive unaccompanied on our roads as long as they have met the high insurance charges levied on provisional drivers."

He accused Mr Brennan of failing to re-vamp a system that requires urgent change.