TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR acknowledged in the Dáil today that driving test wait times are too long.

Kerry TD Danny Healy Rae raised a number of issues relating to drink-driving laws, specifically the new rule which allows the owner of a vehicle to be penalised if a learner driver is caught driving the car unaccompanied.

The independent TD said parents in rural areas are being forced to drive their children to to college early in the morning, and collect them late in the evening as a result.

“There are parents and mothers out at 5am driving their sons and daughters to work or school. They are out again in the evening to bring them home and take them out to football training. They have to go out again at 9pm to bring them home… That is what the government has done to the people in rural Ireland. They must also wait nine months for a driving test,” he said.

He added:

The government promised it would do something to speed up the driving test. Youngsters have been waiting anything from six to nine months to get a driving test. As a result, parents are out in the morning and at night-time to keep the family together and to keep the children going.

The government has done massive harm to people in rural Ireland. It has affected good people who never did any harm, never did anything wrong on the road and never caused a fatality… Its members have abandoned the people who traditionally voted for them over the years.

‘Unacceptable’

Speaking in the Dáil today, Varadkar said the wait time for driver tests is not acceptable, with varying wait times around the country.

“I absolutely acknowledge that there are unacceptable delays faced by people getting driving licences. It varies in different parts of the country but it is something we are working on. We want to get that waiting time down to a reasonable level as soon as we can,” said the Taoiseach.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) said it aims to have a national average waiting time for a driving test of no longer than 10 weeks.

“Our ability to meet this target depends on the number of applications received. Accordingly, the average waiting time in driving test centres may vary above or below this 10-week target,” it states on its website.

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However, areas such as Thurles average 20 weeks, while Shannon and Skibbereen is over 19 weeks, and Cork is over 17 weeks.

Earlier this month, The Irish Independent reported that letters and representations from politicians on behalf of constituents looking to sit their driving tests as soon as possible is having an adverse effect.

Rural transport