Councillor calls for amnesty to clear driving test backlog

Driving test delays need to be addressed said Cllr Brendan Barry at the most recent meeting of Leitrim County Council. 

He called on Ministers Eamon Ryan and Jack Chambers and the Road Safety Authority to deal with the long waiting time for driving tests in County Leitrim and across the country.

He said: "There are around 50,000 to 60,000 people in the country waiting to get a driving test and the waiting time in Leitrim is seven to ten months. It's putting a huge extra financial cost on our young people who are learner drivers having to pay huge extra insurance costs whereas the state is holding them up by not facilitating them with a driving test when they are prepared to do one."

He noted that in 1979, then Minister for the Environment Sylvester Barrett introduced an amnesty for all holders of a second provisional licence in an effort to cut waiting lists for the driving test. 
"I think the minister should consider an amnesty that could be done with driving instructors where they could see if a person was fit and safe to drive or not as many are fully qualified to be testers too so they would know."

Cllr Padraig Fallon agreed saying the backlog is having a "serious impact" on younger people and said he has contacted the minister and the driving test centres in the last month in relation to getting cases proritised. 
"They really feel as though they are being penalised and I can't understand how in Leitrim, with such a small population, there is a seven to ten month delay."

Cathaoirleach Cllr Justin Warnock said that he has also been contacted in relation to the issue with one young man attending ATU in Sligo being left without a license. 
"Accommodation is not viable for him so he has been waiting since January last to get a test. It's having a detrimental effect on a county like Leitrim."