THE RSA HAS said it is on course to hit its 10-week target for driving test wait times by September following recent “steady improvements”.

At its peak this year in April, the average national wait was 27 weeks.

However, this figure has steadily fallen and now stands at 14.1 weeks as of 26 July.

This is a slight improvement on the average national waiting time of 14.4 weeks that was recorded as of 12 July.

The RSA said the shorter waiting times follow the implementation of a “targeted action plan” that was launched “in response to a sharp rise in demand”.

This plan includes extended testing hours and accelerated training of new testers.

As of the end of February, there were 144 permanent testers employed by the RSA.

The RSA previously told The Journal that this figure will reach 200 by November.

Its Chief Operating Officer Brendan Walsh remarked that the RSA understands how important the driving test is for “work, education, and independence”.

He added: “While challenges remain, we’re working hard to ensure everyone gets fair and timely access to testing, and we’re encouraged by the progress made so far.”

The RSA said it will continue to monitor demand and remains focused on returning to the 10-week target by September.

‘Massaging’ figures

The continued fall comes amid recent claims by the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) that the RSA is “massaging” figures for driving tests for cars.

It claimed that the RSA is achieving its 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 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”.

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.