Over 2,000 driving test no shows so far in 2025
Road Safety Authority figures, up to the end of April 2025, show that 2,397 people who had applied for and paid €85 to sit their driving test did not show up.
With approximately 81,000 people currently waiting for a driving test, the number of no shows puts more pressure on the waiting list.
Susan Gray, who is the founder and chairperson of road safety group PARC, has highlighted the number of learner licence holders who are on the waiting list but often do not turn up for their appointed test.
"These no shows are depriving other learners of sitting the test when they are anxious to get a date and pass their test and not have to be driving accompanied," she said.
This year, the RSA has received just over €203,000 in payments for driving tests for which the applicants did not show up.
The figures were presented by the RSA to Fine Gael TD Emer Currie under parliamentary questions.
In 2024, 8,863 people did not show up for their driving test.
The RSA received €753,355 from driving test applicants who did not turn up last year.
Brendan Walsh, Chief Operations Officer with the Road Safety Authority, acknowledged that some of those who do not show up for their tests are holders of multiple learner driving permit licences.
"We do have people who are running very high levels of multiple learner permits," he told RTÉ's This Week.
Mr Walsh said: "We have a programme that once we get through this backlog [driving test waiting list] we're going to kick it off.
"We have the legislation almost finalised with the Department of Transport, so we will be making some changes as to how learner drivers stay on the road with a learner permit.
"If you hold a learner permit you should be learning to drive.
"Last year, we had 8,863 people who failed to show up.
"While that sounds like a big number in the context of 253,000 tests, it's around 3.5%."
Ms Gray is particularly critical of people who hold a learner permit and who do not complete their test for a full licence.
She said: "A learner driver never has to turn up for the test.
"They can renew every year by simply sending the RSA €85, getting a booking date, not turning up and using that letter from the RSA to prove that they actually applied to book a test."
Chris Curran, an Ennis-based driving instructor, said that from his experience some learner permit holders make a decision not to turn up for their test.
"I believe there are a number of people still in the system that are continually not showing up," he said.
Mr Curran said the RSA is "actively trying to work on getting those people to sit their test".
"They don't want people driving for years on learner permits," he said.
"They need to get through the system, sit their test and either pass it or start working on how they might pass it at some stage," he added.
However, he noted that there are sometimes genuine reasons why a person does not show up for a driving test.
Mr Curran said: "The key one is nerves on the day. Some people are just too nervous.
"Other reasons may be that they have suddenly realised that the 10-day window that the RSA gives each candidate to reschedule their test has been exceeded.
"That means they have two choices on the day, turn up or don't turn up.
"Some people take the second option and don't turn up."
Kirsten Falloon has recently applied for a driving test date and was surprised to find how long her wait will be.
"When I applied for my test and realised the length of time that I've got to wait I thought that was abominable," she said.
"They said it could be up to 26 weeks or longer," she added.
Ms Falloon said she cannot understand why people book a driving test and then fail to turn up.
"I think it says more about the system than it does about those that are waiting," she said.
"I think it's very broken," she added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Agriland
13-06-2025
- Agriland
RSA ‘considering' driving test for working vehicles
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said that it is considering the indroduction of a mandatory training programme, and a driving test for new category W only learner permit applicants. According to the RSA, category W vehicles are work vehicles and tractors with a maximum design speed of 40 km/h, that are constructed primarily for work other than for the carriage of goods or burdens by road. An RSA spokesperson told Agriland: 'This has been considered and it has been decided that it will become part of a review of the learning to drive curriculum. 'This work will be ongoing as part of phase 2 of the Road Safety Strategy, which is due to be launched shortly, and runs from 2025 to 2027,' the spokesperson added. RSA Separately, the RSA said it has witnessed early progress under an action plan it implemented to reduce driving test wait periods. The RSA announced the comprehensive action plan – which had a target of slashing wait times by over half – last month. In early April, average wait times were 27 weeks. As of May 31, under the new action plan, these wait times were reduced to 20.6 weeks. The RSA is targeting a 10-week wait period by September. RSA chief operations officer, Brendan Walsh said: 'While there is still a considerable journey ahead to get to the 10 weeks' SLA (service level agreement) by September, we are encouraged by the early indicators of progress.' Walsh added that over 700 tests were scheduled over the June Bank Holiday in a bid to stay on target. According to the RSA, there is currently a backlog of 100,000 applicants waiting to be tested. The RSA has implemented several measures to facilitate extra testing: Accelerated training of new testers through the use of additional training facilities; Prolonged testing hours, which include overtime during weekdays, as well as Saturdays and bank holidays – with tests running from 07:25a.m to 7:00p.m; Prioritising areas of greatest demand when issuing invitations to test in order to create a more efficient slot allocation system. On top of this, additional driving test centres will open in areas of high demand, bringing the national total to 60 centres. The number of driving tests conducted annually has steadily increased year-on-year, reflecting growing demand – from 157,183 in 2021, rising to 180,696 in 2022, 212,525 in 2023, and reaching 253,850 last year.
The Irish Sun
11-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
Vow to cut ‘unacceptable' driving test wait times in half in 3 months despite some centres in country without examiners
MORE than 100,000 people are waiting to sit their driving test with road safety bosses promising to slash wait times in half by the end of the summer. Executives from the Road Safety Authority were grilled by 1 Wait times will go down to ten weeks by September Credit: Getty At the moment, there are 102,000 learner drivers awaiting an appointment to sit their full driving test. The authority has been ramping up its capabilities to carry out driving tests over recent years with 157,183 tests carried out in 2021 compared to 253,850 last year. At the start of the year, learners were being forced to wait up to 27 weeks on average to sit their test. READ MORE IN IRISH NEWS This wait time has now been slashed to 20 weeks with the RSA promising to cut this wait to 10 weeks by September. The RSA has rolled out its largest ever recruitment drive to beef up its tester numbers with 1,400 people applying to become testers. Some 41 new testers have been recruited so far with 32 more currently undergoing training. The RSA plans to recruit 18 more testers in the coming months to bring their full roster up to 200 testers across the country. Most read in The Irish Sun A number of test centres currently have no testers and will not have any until later this year – including Clifden in RSA boss Sam Waide apologised to the public for the lengthy wait times for tests which he admitted were 'unacceptable.' Louisiana Expands Distracted Driving Law: Social Media Posting While Driving Now Fined He said: 'I want to acknowledge that, and to apologise to you and your constituents for that frustration from the outset. 'This is not a situation any of us consider acceptable and I welcome this dialogue as a chance to outline the actions we are taking to address these challenges and improve the service we provide to the public.' The RSA also runs the NCT services with a backlog in tests this year resulting in people waiting up to two weeks for an appointment. WEATHER WOES RSA exec Sam Waide blamed the series of storms and cold He said: 'This is driven by the fall out of closures during the service's busiest period in quarter one due to the red weather event and snowfall affecting the operational capacity of the service. 'Over the past month the service has been below the SLA of 12 days on several occasions and the service is expected to be at 12 days by the end of June.' PROGRESS PROMISE Chair of the Transport Committee Michael Murphy warned the RSA that the watchdog will be keeping a close eye on the progress that is made on cutting wait times for both driving tests and NCTs over the coming months. He said: 'The RSA have said there are early indicators of progress, which will be welcome to many, but we need to see driving test waiting times below the target of 10 weeks. 'It's essential that the RSA are striving to get waiting times as short as possible.'
Irish Times
11-06-2025
- Irish Times
Driving testers working evenings, weekends and bank holidays to clear backlog, RSA says
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is 'steadfast in its dedication' to lower the average waiting time for a driving test to 10 weeks by September, its chief executive told the Oireachtas Committee on Transport this morning. Sam Waide recognised the 'ongoing frustration' felt by the public on this issue and said it 'is not a situation that any of us consider acceptable'. Last week, the average waiting time to secure a test was 19.7 weeks, a slight drop from a May figure of 20.6 weeks, itself a notable decrease from 27 weeks in April this year. Recognising this goal as 'ambitious', he and fellow RSA representatives said they were 'very confident' it would be achieved due to the 'largest ever recruitment exercise in the history of the RSA' since its foundation in 2006. READ MORE [ About 600 learners fail to show for driving tests each month – RSA Opens in new window ] With a recruitment drive that aims to have 200 trained testers working full-time by September, an increase from the current figure of 152, testers have also been working extended hours and across different testing centres. RSA chief operations officer Brendan Walsh said testers are now working evenings and weekends, including bank holidays. He said 700 driving tests took place on the Monday of the June bank holiday weekend. They 'are working under significant pressure', however, the goal to increase supply is 'not just a target but a national imperative for the RSA', Mr Waide said. The organisation conducted 157,183 driving tests in 2021, which rose to 253,850 in 2024. Mr Waide cited growing population, delayed demand from the pandemic , and lack of rural public transport as causes for this 61 per cent increase. The RSA will soon be in a position to accommodate up to 360,000 tests a year, Fine Gael TD Michael Murphy said, when accounting for each tester conducting up to eight tests a day. Mr Murphy said 'we should be able to bring the waiting list significantly lower' than 10 weeks under these circumstances. However, Mr Walsh said 'I don't think it would be right from a driver education perspective [ ...] for someone to get a test in a week'. Fellow Fine Gael TD Emer Currie said people continuously not attending their driving test appointments is an 'extremely serious issue' which affects the availability of tests for others. [ Driving test logjam: how to beat the long waiting times Opens in new window ] Mr Walshe said 56,000 people are 'on three or more [learner's] permits' after failing to show up for their test, with 'a handful' of drivers on more than 10. Three hundred and seventy thousand people have a learner's permit in Ireland currently. The RSA also holds responsibility for the National Care Testing (NCT) service. The average national waiting time for an NCT assessment was 14 days last week, however the RSA expects to lower this to 12 days by the end of this month. There are currently 50 NCT testing centres across the State, with 'expansion to additional locations actively under way'.
