By Dionne Meehan
MOTORISTS have to wait almost one year to sit their driving test in some parts of the county, new figures from the Road Safety Authority show.
Figures released to the Donegal News this week show there are significant delays in almost every driving centre in the county, largely due to a shortage of testers.
The Donegal Town test centre has the longest waiting time of 45 weeks for learners who applied for their driving test on September 30, 2023.
Learner drivers looking to do their tests in Buncrana have to wait 36 weeks, while learners in Letterkenny have to wait 18 weeks.
Currently, there are 873 learner drivers in Letterkenny eagerly awaiting an invitation to sit their driving test.
This is followed by 611 learner drivers in Donegal Town and 439 learner drivers in Buncrana.
Overall, that is 1,923 learner drivers awaiting an invitation.
On the other hand, there are 481 learner drivers in Letterkenny with a test appointment date waiting to do their test.
This is followed by Donegal Town where there are 84 learner drivers with a test appointment, along with 53 in Buncrana.
In total, in Donegal there are 618 learner drivers with a test appointment waiting to sit their test.
Raising the issue in the Dáil, Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Transport why waiting times in Donegal had increased.
Speaking to the Donegal News about the issue, Deputy Pringle said the wait is “shocking”.
“People are waiting now just to get into queue to get a driving test date.
“The Minister for Transport keeps saying they are recruiting extra people to try and shorten the waiting time but it is a long time happening,” he said.
With talks of employing an extra 80 testers throughout Ireland, Deputy Pringle doubts it will be enough to put an end to the backlog.
“If one tester goes through six tests a day they will be doing well, they aren’t going to get through a huge backlog.
“I think 80 testers should be the minimum they recruit, they should be looking to recruit a lot more,” he said.
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