23-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
RSA plans fall short say frustrated Meath representatives
The Road Safety Authority announced its plans to reduce driving test waiting times nationwide to 10 weeks. This has been met with 'cautious' optimism by Navan's local representatives - who say the town's backlog, currently standing at 41 weeks (one of the longest waits in the country), remains a pressing issue.
The mayor of Navan, Cllr Edward Fennessy said: 'Whilst I welcome today's announcement, I do so with caution. We've heard it all before.'
He added: 'Backlogs in this service have a serious knock-on effect right across the spectrum. Younger people and rural communities are particularly hard hit. Not having the independence to travel to work, school, or college puts them at a very unfair disadvantage.'
'The issue has always been about capacity. We don't have enough test centres. We don't have enough testers.'
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is also set to open new driving test centres and expand the hours for tests in an effort to reduce the massive backlog in waiting times.
Meath East TD Darren O'Rourke said he is not convinced that these measures 'will go far enough.'
'At the root of the backlogs is a lack of capacity within the system. The RSA and the government need to ensure that capacity is in place. This must include not just increasing the number of test centres but also the working hours of the test centres as well,' he said.
'The delays are having a significant impact on people, especially the younger people. Getting a driver's license is a rite of passage, it is an opportunity for independence. It is also an opportunity to access education or employment.'
Mr O'Rourke added that many parts of Meath don't have access to good public transportation service.
Meanwhile Councillor Emer Tóibín said this is an issue that has 'taken so long to deal with it'
'This has been going on for years but it just got particularly bad now,' she said.
'The impact on young people is awful. The government failed to be pro-active, it is now reactive. The measures proposed don't go far enough to allow people to get on with their lives. Every young person's life is on hold'
In the Navan centre, the expected time of sitting a test if you applied today would be January next year.
But the RSA hopes that the proposed plans will bring the average waiting time down from 27 weeks to 10 weeks by early September.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
