Revealed: '20-week wait time' for driving tests in some parts of the Premier County

Aontú PRO for the Midwest, Eric Nelligan, can reveal that there are currently over 4,879 learner driver applications with the RSA for test centres in Tipperary.

Slightly less than 8% of the applications, a total of 526 between the Clonmel, Nenagh, Thurles and Tipp town centres, are currently scheduled so that the applicant is aware of the test date.

A significant number of applications, 1,757 people, have applied but are waiting for an update.

Mr Nelligan: "Learner drivers are now waiting up to 23 weeks, or almost six months, for driving tests. If you applied for a test in the first week of May, it’d be November before you’d get to sit the exam in Nenagh, the wait time in Clonmel is 20 weeks with a 14-week delay in Tipp Town and 10 weeks in Thurles.

"A man from Brazil recently contacted our Midwest constituency office asking if there was anything we can do to help him get a test faster.

"He has moved to Ireland with his wife and children, they live in the suburbs of Limerick, but getting his daughter to creche, going shopping, travelling to work or doing anything else takes an exceptionally long amount of time unless they pay for a taxi."

Mr Nelligan branded the wait time “outrageous”, adding: "This is just not acceptable. Aontú will be challenging for more investment for improved services. 

"The days are now long, it is bright well into the evening, we think more tests could be scheduled later until such times as the delays are reduced.

"We will be making representations about this on behalf of my constituents and the thousands of learners who are waiting to sit their driving test."

"It’s a no-brainer to increase resources to address the delays, the RSA recently completed a recruitment campaign to increase permanent staff in the Driver Testing Service from 100 to 130.

"This staff increase will make minimal impact on the delays as it barely accounts for the growing number of people applying for tests.

"These delays are particularly difficult for people in rural areas who rely on their car to get them to school and work. 

"It is also challenging for families with young people on provisional licences as they must have a fully qualified driver with them in the passenger seat to be legally able to drive’," concluded Mr Nelligan.