Brian Stanley: Urgent call to fix driving test backlog
Brian Stanley addressed the minister about driving licence delays, highlighting long waits for driving tests and their impact on rural workers and employment. He urged urgent action to clear the backlog, calling for more testers, temporary overtime and a reduction in waiting times to six weeks.
Brian Stanley described how many people in rural areas must rely on cars to reach villages and workplaces, citing numerous localities where public transport is not available early in the morning. He stressed that roles such as Home Helps, construction workers and delivery drivers require a full, clean driving licence to maintain employment.
He presented figures showing long average waits for a driving test - an average time now of 27 weeks - and gave examples of invitations taking six to seven months in some locations. He said his own check on the online system confirmed waits of over seven months for an invitation, and pointed to specific numbers such as 1,092 people waiting in Portlaoise with only 216 scheduled.
Brian Stanley argued the statutory maximum waiting time is not being met and described this as a breach of the service level agreement, holding the public body to account through the minister. He warned that the scale of those waiting and the length of waits are "absolutely shocking" and require ministerial attention.
He demanded immediate steps to increase testing capacity - including employing more testers and authorising overtime - to clear the backlog. He urged a target reduction in testing waits to six weeks rather than the current 12-week expectation, describing that as a necessary short-term remedy.
Rural transport and employment
Brian Stanley described how many people in rural areas must rely on cars to reach villages and workplaces, citing numerous localities where public transport is not available early in the morning. He stressed that roles such as Home Helps, construction workers and delivery drivers require a full, clean driving licence to maintain employment.
Extent of the backlog and waiting times
He presented figures showing long average waits for a driving test - an average time now of 27 weeks - and gave examples of invitations taking six to seven months in some locations. He said his own check on the online system confirmed waits of over seven months for an invitation, and pointed to specific numbers such as 1,092 people waiting in Portlaoise with only 216 scheduled.
Service standards and accountability
Brian Stanley argued the statutory maximum waiting time is not being met and described this as a breach of the service level agreement, holding the public body to account through the minister. He warned that the scale of those waiting and the length of waits are "absolutely shocking" and require ministerial attention.
Proposed short-term measures
He demanded immediate steps to increase testing capacity - including employing more testers and authorising overtime - to clear the backlog. He urged a target reduction in testing waits to six weeks rather than the current 12-week expectation, describing that as a necessary short-term remedy.
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Transcript
Minister, the importance of this driving licence issues, I can't overstate it here, workers in rural areas, if you take County Leish for example, a lot of people have to go into Port Leish to work, or to Mount Melich, or Port Arlington, or Grey Cullen, and travelling from outlying areas such as the Swan, Balnaillill, Earl, Rathdowney, Cameras, those areas where there's no public transport early in the morning, or any area in the Slea Blum's Cameras, or Clunasley, anywhere like that, so it's important that we fix this, and public transport will never cover all townlands, I accept that, but even to get to the village, you know, we are trying to tie up the villages, and you know, great progress has been made in that, with Local Link and all that, but to get to the village, which is often four or five miles away, you need a car to get there. People also need driver's license for their employment, take for example Home Helps is a typical one, Minister, you know, people in construction, delivery drivers, they all need a good, a clean driving license, there's been a big crackdown on the driving of provisional license, and the Gardaí are very active on it, and that, we accept that needs to happen, because, you know, you can't be on a provisional license forever, but also a lot of young drivers are paying sky-high insurance, because they can't get that driving test, or the second driving test, or the third one, to go over the line, to give them a full driver's license. So, we need to reach, we need to deal with this, it's really important that we improve and shorten the testing times, and this has gone on for years. I and other deputies have raised this many, many times here, over several years, with various government ministers down through the years, but it's actually got worse. The figures for the numbers of those waiting for a test, and the length of time that they're waiting, are absolutely shocking. The estimated time, average time now is 27 weeks, and the Minister has confirmed that, and just for an invitation, which doesn't guarantee a test, it's six months in Borre, in Offaly, it's over six months in Portlaoise, there could be an additional six, seven or eight or nine weeks before you actually get the test. And I have the figures here to show it, I actually tried it myself on the website to see what would happen, and it confirmed what happened. It took over seven months, takes over seven months to get an invitation. And the numbers actually waiting for the test, they're shocking. The numbers waiting for the test, there's 1,092 waiting in Portlaoise. Only 216 of those are scheduled. Only 216 are scheduled. So the statutory maximum time is not being met. That's a breach of the service level agreement. And this is a public body accountability for you, Minister. We need to imply more testers in the meantime, short term, you know, give people overtime, clear the backlog, and deal with this issue. Thank you. And reduce the time to six weeks, not 12 weeks. Thank you. Thank you.