Kathleen Funchion: Demands Action on Driving Test Delays

Thanks Chair. The issue that I want to raise is in relation to the waiting times for the driving test and while we know it's an issue nationally, the numbers are particularly bad for my own constituency of Carlow and Kilkenny and out of the two counties Carlow actually is unfortunately fair and worse with 1119 people currently waiting on a driver's test and really what this means particularly for a county like Carlow where access to public transport is extremely limited if available at all is that you have a huge amount of people that are unable to access employment or unable to actually get to their jobs and this has really been exasperated with the COVID situation because I mean we don't really have access to public transport in our constituency you know it's very very limited but where it is there it's down to a 25% capacity and in fact you know we are hearing how people are being encouraged now not to take public transport due to COVID but what you do if you're in a rural village or town of Carlow and you can't get to your job or you can't actually apply for certain jobs many jobs now require you to have a full license and you know I often get contacted by people who have maybe been offered a job on the condition that they have their full license or they're getting their full license or you know that there's the expectation of a job there if they can fulfill that requirement waiting for a test and they're quite bad in Kilkenny as well 888 but it is particularly acute in Carlow and I just want to know what solutions are being looked at and what exactly is being done to address this issue and this problem because you know unfortunately rural Ireland has to a larger extent been forgotten about and you know we've heard an awful lot since this government has come into place about electric cars but that's not any good if you're 20 to 25 miles away from your employment you know it's not realistic and if you don't have access to a bus or a train so you know we need to be realistic about that sort of stuff as well and I just want to know exactly what's being done to clear the waiting list so that people you know can actually get to work and can apply for jobs I imagine there's a huge amount of young people as well that fall into this category and again here we have another situation where young people are being you know disadvantaged thank you deputy function mr knockton please thank you very thank you very much and I'd like to thank uh deputy function for raising this really important matter the driver test service and the driver theory test are the statutory responsibility of the rsa my department is in constant contact with the rsa since the start of the pandemic regarding all of its services the impact of covet 19 on those services and how they can best be maintained in the current circumstances as you're aware car driving tests were temporarily suspended due to the covet due to covet 19 in march 2020 and since resuming operations in mid-july there is inevitably been an increased level of demand due to the consequent backlog unfortunately due to the social distancing and other public health and hygiene requirements service capacity has had to be considerably reduced this means that customers experiencing longer waiting times than was the case before the service was suspended level five restrictions which took effect for six weeks on the 22nd of october 2020 means that driving tests are now only available to those who are involved in essential services including essential retail work and while i regret the inconvenience caused public safety must remain a paramount importance the road safety authority is currently examining ways of increasing the number of tests within health constraints when driver testing resumes after level five and is working in close consultation with my department on this matter this includes increasing the number of testing staff to help reduce and over time eliminate the backlog my department has recently approved the retention by the rsa of 18 temporary driving testers whose contracts were due to expire in october and november and the rsa has also rehired a further 18 temporary testers whose contracts expired in may this will help to increase testing capacity when services resume in the longer term the department is considering proposals by the rsa for further measures to address the backlog the driver theory test has not been deemed as an essential service under level five as a consequence the service is closed effective from midnight on wednesday the 21st of october and for the duration of level five restrictions all appointments during that time have been rescheduled to the next available appointment date as i'm sure you're aware that theory test service was temporarily suspended in march 2020 due to the due to the covet 19 emergency when the service resumed in june there was an increased level of demand and a significant backlog developed this was coupled with the need to significantly reduce normal daily capacity to comply with occupational and public health requirements when the driver theory test service closed on the 21st of october due to the latest restrictions the majority of testing centers had almost full bookings up to the end of december and some into january too as it worked its way through the initial backlog the decision was taken by the service provider that those whose appointments were cancelled due to the latest restrictions would be rescheduled to the next available appointment date the road safety authority has advised my office that it is engaging with the service provider to examine ways of increasing the number of tests within the current health constraints for when services are resumed this will help reduce and over time eliminate the backlog my department has requested that the road safety authority as the body legally responsible for the driver theory test examine whether theory tests can be taken online remotely and what is required to do so i understand that the authority is developing proposals in that regard however this planning is at a very early stage and it is not expected to come on stream in the immediate future sir deputy function please um thanks uh chair and thanks minister um just maybe as a as a point of clarification and if you don't have the information to hand maybe you could could forward it on the 18 temporary driver testers and then it looks like you're for uh hiring a further 18 so is that 36 in total and will they then be kept on do you imagine in a full-time capacity because i was going to actually mention that the theory test in this part too that obviously there is an issue with the driving test and the backlog but we're probably going to see that issue continue for a long time in the sense that there's been a backlog as well with the theory test so the only way to actually tackle all of that is to obviously have um testers you know they're in a full-time capacity and just as well to say that there should really be consultation with um the testers and the driving instructors and whoever their representative groups are because i'm sure they all have ideas as well in terms of how to actually deal with this and you know everybody wants to see this situation resolved i know minister you're from a rural constituency yourself so you understand that you know a car is not a luxury in a rural community you have to have it it's the basics for getting kids to school to get into your job so um you know there's not the option for very many people and it's it's really particularly disappointed to see young people and maybe not being able to apply for certain jobs or maybe not being able to actually take up those jobs based on the fact that they can't get their driver's license now there are other issues too as well in relation to the cost of of car insurance and everything for young people and that's that's um a major issue too but still you know if we could get some solutions and i do appreciate what you're saying about doing the theory tests online like that does seem like something that surely could could be done thanks um chair thank you deputy minister thank you deputy um it's my understanding deputy that those that 36 their extra uh driving testers that will be in place and again i want i know how how concerned many constituents are in relation to this and while the service is limited during level five restrictions the road safety authority is examining ways of increasing the number of tests within the health constraints with an eye on resuming the wider testing level after level five and it's working in close consultation with my department on the matter and this includes increasing the number of testing staff to help reduce that backlog over time and just to clarify the department my department has given approval to the rsa to retain the 18 driver testers on temporary contracts due to expire this month sorry october and november this month and also to rehire the further 18 temporary testers whose contracts in spot x expired in may so they would be additional this will help to increase the testing capacity however it's important to stress that there are many issues impacting on the delivery of the service uh concerned with the throughput of the centers themselves in light of the restrictions rather than on the availability of staff alone so there's a number of health protocols that need to be adhered to in relation to the whole testing system the rsa are also looking at a number of other measures including whether the number of tests a driver tester can perform each day whether that can be increased and within the current health constraints and due to the additional hygiene and sanitation procedures that are now absolutely necessary each testing slot now takes a lot longer to complete because of the sanitation criteria as a result of the number of tests the tester can safely conduct per day was reduced from eight to five when the service reopened and following experience of managing the tests under covert restrictions this was increased to six in mid september currently the rsa is prioritizing driver testing for essential workers and has set up a dedicated email which may be of assistance deputy it's the email address is urgent driving test at rsa.ie where applicants can request to be given priority and supply supporting documentation these requests are prioritized during the scheduling the scheduling process with cancellation slots being offered where possible thank you