'It's a mess and a crisis'- Concern over high number of learner drivers on Carlow roads

12,546 learner drivers on the roads in Carlow and Kilkenny is a crisis, according to Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) President Ger Hyland.

There are 394,128 learner drivers on Ireland’s roads in total, which is over 12,000 more learner driver permits in just 6 months.

Carlow had 5,524 learner driver permit holders on the roads in September of this year and Kilkenny had 7,022.

The extraordinary number of learner drivers on Irish roads comes at a time when road deaths are spiralling and as of November 20th, 2025, Garda figures show that 158 people had lost their lives on Irish roads, 9 more deaths than on the same day in 2024 according to Hyland.

Most learner permit holders in Carlow are aged between 17-20 (1,414 drivers) and 30 and 39 (1,167).

7 learner permit holders in Carlow are over the age of 80 while 45 learner permit holders are between 70 and 79 years old in Carlow according to figures provided by the RSA.

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Most learner permit holders in Kilkenny are aged between 17-20 (1,982 drivers) and 30 and 39 (1,471). 11 learner permit holders in Kilkenny are over the age of 80 while 80 learner permit holders are between 70 and 79 years old in Kilkenny according to figures provided by the RSA.

Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) President Ger Hyland said the levels of inexperienced drivers on our roads “beggars belief” at a time when millions of taxpayers euros are being pumped into the RSA to clear a chronic backlog of driver testing across all licence categories”

Hyland warned that the surge in learner drivers on our roads poses a direct threat to Irish road safety,

“To have 394,128 inexperienced drivers on our roads is a testament to the failure of the Road Safety Authority and their mismanagement of our driver testing system. It is a mess and not getting any better, despite all the creative accounting that the RSA are doing with driver testing figures”

Hyland pointed to Garda figures which show that 2,754 fixed charge notices were issued nationally by Gardaí in the first three months of 2025 alone to learner drivers caught driving without a fully licensed driver. That is an increase of 9.5% on the same period in 2024.

Hyland said that our roads have become dangerous places for his members and accused the RSA of not getting a handle on what is a crisis for Irish road safety.

Hyland called on media to robustly interrogate the real story behind the vast numbers of Irish people waiting for car, truck and bus driving tests. Hyland said that the IRHA no longer has confidence in the data provided by the RSA,

“How are we supposed to accept that around 10% of Ireland’s driving public are on some kind of learner permit? We have been asking questions of the RSA for the past 12 months on behalf of our members and the driving public. The RSA have ducked, dived and dodged accountability and transparency and it is high time that Minister Sean Canney called them to task”