Driving test delays remain sky high in Kilkenny but there are signs of hope...

Just over 1,000 candidates at the Kilkenny test centre are waiting to take their driving test, and 229 have scheduled their test, according to a spokesperson from the Department of Transport.

"This is one of the centres with the greatest volume of applications and so wait times at the centre are now 51 weeks unfortunately," the spokesperson added.

The current national waiting time is currently 28 weeks, which according to the Department, 'far exceeds' an acceptable waiting time.

Addressing waiting time concern, the Department of Transport spokesperson stated: "In response to these pressures, the Authority reviewed the capacity of the driver testing service and, following a request for additional resources, the Department gave approval for the recruitment of up to 75 additional driver testers. This brings the total number of sanctioned driver tester posts to just over 200.

"This recruitment is underway and being managed by the Authority. We have been advised that the first tranche of new recruits were deployed in September. The additional driver testers are being allocated across the driver testing service with a focus on geographical areas with the longest waiting times and highest demand for tests - like Kilkenny. At a national level, a small decline in average wait times has been seen following the deployment of the first new testers."

The Road Safety Authority (RSA), expects a decline in waiting times following the addition of further testers and estimate that the agreed service levels of average wait times of 10 weeks will resume in mid-2024.