Cllr: ‘You’d get a pilot’s license quicker’
Cork County Council has called for urgent action to address an ongoing backlog in driving tests resulting in waiting times of up to eight months.
The council has also called for the establishment of additional driving test centres in the county to meet current and future demands.
The call comes following a motion from Independent Cllr William O'Leary who said the Irish testing system has “completely collapsed over the past three to four years”.
Cllr O’Leary said: “The system was shut down for a long period of time during Covid when the backlog started to build and it hasn’t been addressed since.
“It’s not just about young people getting on the road. It’s about jobs, it’s about college courses, it’s about parents doing school runs, and apprentices trying to get to work and having to pass up job opportunities because they were awaiting a driving test,” added the Fermoy councillor.
According to an analysis of recent Road Safety Authority (RSA) figures by road safety campaign group, Parc, waiting times for driving test centres in Mallow and Wilton in Cork are 33 and 32 weeks respectively.
Currently, the national average waiting time for a test is 27 weeks (6.75 months).
It is reported more than 80,000 driving test applicants were waiting for a driving test in April marking the highest number recorded since the pandemic.
Cllr O’Leary continued: “At this stage you’d get a pilot’s license quicker than a driving license. For the biggest county in Ireland, we need additional test centres that cater particularly for category B driving tests which is the main demand at the moment.
“We haven’t had an additional test centre in this county, certainly not in the last 25 years,” he added.
According to Fianna Fáil Cllr Dominic Finn, a lot of young people in Cork are applying for their driving test outside of the county in order to have a shorted waiting time.
“I know that because my own son had to go down to Tralee on Friday to do his test. It’s easier to get a test in Kerry than it was to get one here in county Cork,” said Mr Finn.
Responding to Cllr O’Leary’s motion, a spokesperson for the RSA said the driver testing service has experienced unprecedented demand in recent years with the number of applications for a driving test increasing significantly since 2021.
The spokesperson said: “In 2024 a total of 253,850 driving tests were conducted, up from 196,853 in 2023, making it a record year for the delivery of tests. The delivery of 253,850 tests was only possible due to the support of our testing staff through significant levels of overtime and improvements in operational efficiencies.
“A recruitment campaign for new driver testers was launched following Government approval for increased permanent sanction in September 2024. This will increase the number of permanent sanctioned testers from 130 to 200. It should be noted that the number of permanent testers was 100 in 2022, and this rose to 130 following sanction from the department.
“Further training of our new recruits will take place in May, July, September, and October. The RSA will have 200 testers available in November. As these new recruits join the service, the waiting times will reduce significantly towards the end of the year,” they concluded.