Driving test backlog will not be cleared until mid-2024
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The backlog in driving tests will not be cleared until the middle of 2024, an Oireachtas Committee has heard.
Five new NCT centres will be opened to deal with increased demand, while up to 40 new testers will be hired for driving tests, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and Applus, which operates the NCT, have said.
Chief executive of the RSA Sam Waide told the Transport Committee the NCT had faced some “serious challenges” due to the impact of Covid.
He noted that customer no-shows and late cancellations mean there are to be around 1.5m cars tested at NCT centres this year.
At the moment, there are 375,000 vehicles overdue an NCT, with many people having to wait until September at the earliest to be seen.
Managing director of Applus Mar Synnott explained that the company had faced a number of issues stemming from the impact of Covid on society.
“In terms of staffing, we saw the impact of the 'Great Resignation', where we saw 113 vehicle inspectors leave our employment.”
This was challenged by Fianna Fáil TD for Cork East James O’Connor, who pointed out that Applus had cancelled their staff Christmas party in 2022, opting instead to offer staff €10 each towards a sponsored Christmas lunch.
Mr Synott said this was down to the “financial situation” the company had found itself in 2022, but Mr O’Connor noted that the company had sent a team “11,000km away to the Philippines to find staff.”
Mr O’Connor said: “Many people realise that there is an important role to treat employees with respect, with dignity and to look after employees.”
The committee also heard there are currently 610 NCT inspectors in Ireland, with extra staff hired from Spain and the Philippines following recruitment drives due to a “chronic lack of qualified mechanics” in Ireland.
Mr Synnott said that the next couple of months will be “very challenging”, but Applus expect an improvement and to be “fully returned to normal” at the start of the third quarter of the year.
In relation to driving tests, the RSA noted that a backlog of applications that built up throughout the pandemic was “effectively cleared” before July 2022.
However, at the end of December, there were 47,364 learner drivers waiting for an appointment to sit a driving test, with an average wait time for an invite to a test being 19 weeks.
The RSA had submitted a request for 40 additional temporary driving testers in December to the Department of Transport.
If allowed, testers will “ideally” be hired in July and be testing by October — but chief operating officer of the RSA Brendan Walsh admitted that the process is unlikely to be back to normal until “the midpoint of 2024”.
Deputy Joe Carey of Fine Gael warned that the plan could be a “disaster” as the RSA had “previously let go people who had been on temporary contracts and trained when they should have been kept on”.
He noted that in his own constituency of Clare, the average wait for an NCT test in Shannon was 35 weeks.
Both the RSA and Applus apologised to the public for the delays.