'Unacceptably Large Backlog' Of People Waiting For Driving Test Date - SF

More than 77,000 people are currently waiting for date to take their driving test, which Sinn Féin has described as an "unacceptably large backlog".

According to Sinn Féin TD for Louth and East Meath, Imelda Munster, at present there are 77,419 applications across the state, between those who are awaiting a date for a test and those whose tests have been scheduled. The longest waiting list is in Dublin, where 21,588 are on the list.

Deputy Munster said: "This situation has been ongoing for a long time. It beggars belief that it has not been remedied to date.

"The Road Safety Authority (RSA) have told me in a response to a Parliamentary Question on the matter that the situation has worsened in the past 18 months due to retirements from the service. Twenty three driver testers have been recruited since 2016, yet the waiting list is still unacceptably long.

"The number of people in Louth awaiting a driving test is 2,514 and there is only one test centre in the county.

"Given the long waiting times in the county it is high time that the RSA reconsidered locating a test centre in Drogheda, a proposal that they have previously rejected. The figures released this week show that a second test centre is needed, in order to clear the backlog and prevent this situation coming about again in the future."

Deputy Munster said that she intended to contact the RSA seeking further information around the causes of the backlog, the need for a test centre in the south of the county in the longer term and the apparent ineffectiveness of the last two years' recruitment.

(MH/LM)