926 Cavan learner drivers on waiting list

The plight of learner drivers forced to wait months for a driving test as a backlog builds up in testing centres has been highlighted by local Labour party member Liam van der Spek.

Mr van der Spek raised the issue as his party colleague, Deputy Sean Sherlock, obtained figures from the RSA showing over 65,000 across the country drivers are awaiting tests and have no idea when they will get one.

Mr van der Spek said: “This includes almost 1,000 at the Cavan town test centre alone. The total waiting list has fluctuated from 43,900 to as high as 85,000. The latest figures come with a caveat that there is now a plan to mitigate waiting times in the Department of Transport awaiting approval. The Government must act on this now to give certainty and clarity to learner drivers.”

The Labour party candidate in the last local and general election said the problem is affecting a wide range of people: “There is a whole swathe of workers, students and commuters desperately seeking a testing date. Of the 926 people on the waiting list in Cavan a majority are under 30 years old. People in their 20s and 30s are already facing huge uncertainty about employment due to COVID. Delays in getting driving licences particularly impact those in more rural regions of the country like Cavan & Monaghan where public transport has always been limited compared to cities, and particularly now with COVID.”

He continued: “The RSA Level 5 guidance on testing simply doesn’t make sense when they say that applicants need to be an essential worker. Yet in the same breath the RSA admits that they have no way to know if you are an essential worker. It makes a mockery of the situation if someone is desperately seeking an appointment they will say what they can to get that appointment rather than wait indefinitely.”

Mr van der Spek said the government's plan to cut the backlog must be comprehensive: “We need to see this plan that will drastically reduce the waiting period and we need to see it in action. There are concerns about the distinction between driving tests and theory tests which could have been kept also, rather than compelling hundreds of young people, primarily, to more stress and delay.”