Meath has one of the longest waiting lists in the country for driver's applying to take their test

Meath has one of the longest waiting lists in the country for driver's applying to take their test.  According to the Road Safety Authority, There are currently 854 people waiting for a test appointment, 1002 people scheduled for an appointment and 690 currently available to take an appointment. This leaves Meath just behind Dublin, Cork, Kildare and Limerick on the report compiled by the RSA. 

"There are 76,964 applications for a driving test on hand. Of these, 30,371 tests have been scheduled, and 25,079 applications are awaiting a test date. The remaining 21,514 applicants are unavailable for testing, for example, the applicant has not completed the mandatory Essential Driver Training lessons."

Senator Victor Boyhan raised the issue of waiting lists in the Seanad recently. He called on Minister Ross to consider bringing in Private Testers to augment the RSA Testers to make significant inroads to reduce the thousands waiting for a driving test.

In response to Senator Boyhan – Minister Ross replied, 

"I accept the waiting times at some centres remains high but measures being put in place by the Authority are working towards reducing waiting times for the public. The Authority's target for a national average waiting time is no longer than 10 weeks. Of the 50 test centres around the country, 33 currently meet this target with many of these coming in under 10 weeks."

"The current average waiting time in 8.8 weeks. In 2018, following my approval, the authority recruited 52 driver testers and there are currently a further 14 testers undergoing training. In addition, it is planned to recruit an additional 8 drivers testers in March. There are now 147.94 full-time equivalent driver testers available for deployment and this provides an annual capacity of 260,000 driving tests." 

He also commented, 

"Despite an increase in applications for driver tests which may reflect legislative changes in relation to enforcing the existing law on unaccompanied learner drivers as well as an ongoing economic and demographic growth, there is a gradual reduction in waiting times at almost all test centres. With the additional resources available as well as those coming on stream waiting times will continue to reduce at all test centres." 

Senator Boyhan described the response as disappointing and said, 

"I will continue to keep the pressure on Minister Ross to address the unacceptable delays.”