The Tipperary based Chair of the Oireachtas Transport Committee says commitments given by the Road Safety Authority can dramatically cut waiting times for Driving Tests.
At the moment the average wait is around 20 weeks with many applicants unable to take up job offers due to not having a full licence.
Local Fine Gael TD Michael Murphy chaired his first meeting of the Transport Committee last week where the RSA said they would be able to carry out over 7,000 tests weekly by September.
On Tipp Today earlier Deputy Murphy said an increase in testing staff will have a huge impact.
“We will have 200 permanent testers in place by the end of September capable of doing 7,200 tests a week – so that’s a national capacity beyond September of 360,000 tests a year. The forecasted demand for 2026 and 27 is in the region of 270,000 tests I think we’ll get to a situation this time next year where the average waiting time will probably be five to six weeks.”
