Louth learners drivers face months of waiting — RSA promises rapid fix

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has today launched an action plan aimed at reducing driving test waiting times for Louth. The Government has tasked the RSA with reducing this to the target of 10 weeks.

The RSA say that the plan announced today sets out actions to bring the average waiting time down from 27 weeks to 10 weeks by early September 2025.

The response comes amid unprecedented demand for driving tests, with 100,000 waiting to be tested. In Louth, 2,710 applicants are awaiting a test.

Key measures now underway to boost testing capacity include:

• Accelerated training of new testers through the use of additional training facilities and a revised approach to training enabling early deployment of new testers to centres.
• Expanded testing hours, including overtime for weekday evenings, Saturdays, and bank holidays — with tests running from 07:25am to 7pm.
• Targeted manual intervention in the booking system to ensure invitations are issued to areas of greatest demand to ensure more efficient slot allocation.   

To further alleviate pressure, new driving test centres will open in key areas bringing the national total to 60 centres. At Dundalk testing centre, there are currently 8 testers. A new Louth test centre location will see five additional testers be assigned to it when it opens later this year, bringing the total to 13 testers in the county across two centres.

As directed by Minister of State at the Department of Transport Séan Canney, the RSA is also currently examining and appraising contingency measures, both internally and externally as further options to deal with any potential future surges in demand for driving tests.

The number of driving tests conducted has steadily increased year-on-year, reflecting growing demand: 157,183 in 2021, rising to 180,696 in 2022, 212,525 in 2023, and reaching 253,850 last year, representing a 61% increase in the number of conducted tests since 2021.

Sam Waide, Chief Executive Officer at the RSA, said:

“We know how frustrating and disruptive these delays are — especially for people who need a licence for work, college, or caring responsibilities. I want to offer a sincere apology to everyone who has been affected.

"Our team has developed a focused, projection-based plan to improve availability and reduce wait times. Every part of the system is being mobilised to deliver for the public. The RSA will publish progress updates every fortnight via its website to ensure full transparency and public awareness as the plan advances

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“We’re asking customers to support the effort by cancelling early if they cannot attend, so that appointments can be offered to others. Every cancelled slot that’s re-used helps us reduce the backlog faster. Also, we’re urging customers to ensure they prepared for their test as over 4,000 tests so far this year couldn’t be conducted for reasons such as vehicles without a valid NCT, Tax, Insurance or not deemed roadworthy.”

Further information can be sourced on the RSA website .