LAST UPDATE | 21 Jul

THE IRISH ROAD HAULAGE Association (IRHA) has accused the RSA of “massaging” figures for waiting lists for driving tests for cars by moving testing away from buses and trucks.

Last week, the RSA reported a “significant drop” in driving test wait times.

It said that as of 12 July, the average national waiting time to receive a driving test invitation has dropped to 14.4 weeks, surpassing the RSA’s mid-July target of 18 weeks by 20%.

The RSA added that this marked a further improvement from the 16.3 weeks recorded two weeks previous, and a “dramatic” reduction from the peak of 27 weeks at the end of April.

The RSA also said it “remains firmly on course to achieve its long-term goal of bringing average waiting times down to 10 weeks by September”.

A spokesperson said the progress was due to a “series of targeted measures to expand capacity and streamline operations”, such as additional testers and planned new testing centres in Drogheda and Sandyford which are due to become operational by September.

However, the IRHA today claimed that that RSA is achieving this reduction in waiting times by “moving testers from articulated truck, bus and truck testing to car testing”.

The IRHA added that waiting times have reduced for car driving tests but have “increased exponentially for commercial driving tests”.

It said that between April and June, there’s been a 42% increase in wait times for trucks (42%) and a 40% increase for articulated trucks.

The IRHA also pointed to a “backlog in the testing of bus drivers” and said that this is a “crisis in the making for the commercial driving industry”.

Ger Hyland, president of the IRHA, claimed that the RSA decided to move testers away from buses and truck and towards cars due to “intense political pressure”.

Hyland described it as “effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul at a time when the haulage sector is desperately short on drivers”. 

“Young Irish drivers who need a license to drive a bus, truck or HGV cannot get licenses because the RSA have all but stopped commercial testing to focus on car testing,” said Hyland.

“They have pulled the wool over this government’s eyes and instead of dealing with the high demand for testing, they decided to simply move the deck chairs around the Titanic.”

He added that some companies are “forced to bring in drivers from South Africa instead whilst young Irish people are forced to move abroad and drive there”.

“The RSA know that the car testing figures are what will garner more media and political focus,” said Hyland.

“That is why they moved their resources there, at the expense of the commercial driving sector – they just moved the driving test crisis from cars to commercial vehicles, leading to severe backlogs in the testing system for bus, HGV and truck drivers.

“These are the drivers we need to bring tourists around, deliver goods and keep our economy running.”

Hyland went on to say that the RSA is “clearly not fit for purpose” and called for it to be removed from the driver testing system “before any more damage to the Irish economy is done”.

In a statement to The Journal, the RSA said it is “fully committed to delivering fair and timely access to driving tests across all licence categories”.

A spokesperson said that in May, it delivered “record levels of Category C and D (truck and bus) tests in preparation for the release of our experienced staff from the service to support the training of our new recruits”.

The spokesperson said this resulted in a reduction of testing staff to support the higher licence categories during June and July.

“This short-term adjustment is already delivering improvements in overall capacity,” said the RSA.

“Once the new testers are fully deployed from early September, waiting times for all licence categories — including commercial — will stabilise and meet service-level agreements.”

The RSA said that at the end of June, 2,738 people were awaiting a truck or bus driving test. 

It added that these individuals will be issued with an invitation in the coming weeks and that the RSA expects to exceed testing for the higher categories in 2025 when compared to last year.

The RSA added: “We note in recent months, the IRHA expressed concern about long waiting times for car driving tests, warning of the ‘safety risks’ that delays were contributing to potentially more unaccompanied learner drivers sharing the road with professional HGV drivers.

“Addressing that issue has been a national priority.”