Munster says driving test wait times in Louth 'completely unacceptable'

Louth TD Imelda Munster has said that driving test waiting times in the county have reached levels that are “completely unacceptable”

Deputy Munster was commenting on recent Road Safety Authority (RSA) figures which indicate that people are waiting up to three months for a driving test at the Dundalk test centre, with another 734 people still awaiting a test date.

“The RSA say they aim to have a national average waiting time for a driving test of no longer than 10 weeks", says Deputy Munster.

“If you look at the figures in driving test centres across the state, this average time frame target is not currently being met in 22 of the state’s 50 test centres, with people waiting over 6 months in some areas.

“The main factor causing this backlog is that there are nowhere near enough testers to deal with the demand.

“A significant number of testers have retired in recent years. This is foreseeable, and I do not accept that new testers could not have been recruited to ensure that these retirements did not affect the service.

“The recruitment process has been slow and is simply not enough. The Minister for Transport needs to support the RSA in recruiting significant numbers of new testers to cope with demand. The buck stops with Shane Ross.

“A new test centre is planned for Drogheda, which I welcome, however progress on getting the centre up and running has been far too slow. This issue needs to be addressed now in order to allow learner drivers to get their licences and travel freely and safely to work and to access education.

“This situation has been ongoing for a long time and it is completely unacceptable that this hasn’t been resolved to date", the Sinn Féin TD concluded.