Plans to retrain up to 50 Department of Agriculture staff to deal with the driving test backlog are in disarray, after just 10 of those who applied to the Department of Transport were deemed suitable for the job, it emerged yesterday.
Speaking at the annnouncement of the €1.5 billion national roads programme allocations for this year, the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, indicated that, partly as a result of this situation, it is his belief that there is now a need for the "temporary outsourcing" of testing.
This could be done through an outside company on a "very temporary basis" to help clear the backlog of those awaiting tests, he said. It is understood that Mr Cullen made his comments after it emerged that just 25 Department of Agriculture officials who applied to become testers were deemed suitable for an interview, which included an expert driving test. Subsequently, 10 of these applicants were assessed as being suitable to become testers.
However, at least an additional 25 testers are thought to be needed to make a significant impact on the current driving test backlog.
Last November, The Irish Times revealed that, following an agreement brokered by the Labour Relations Commission between the Department of Transport and unions which had strongly opposed outsourcing, surplus staff from the Department of Agriculture and Food would be invited to apply to be trained as driver testers.
At the time, it was envisaged that a minimum of 25, and possibly up to 50 Department of Agriculture staff would need to be trained as driver testers. Additional administrative staff would also be required.
However, the Department of Transport is understood to have identified a suitable consortium to undertake the outsourcing of testing. Any contract is expected to last no more than 18 months, and would be introduced with a view to "breaking the back" of the waiting test problem once and for all.
Commenting on the driving test backlog yesterday, Mr Cullen said that from both a consumer and road safety perspective, it was "still crucial" that it be cleared.
But the existence of a significant test backlog was also hampering attempts to introduce other road safety measures, such as a requirement for those who are caught drink driving to be required to re-sit the driving test, he added.
Prior to the agreement with the unions at the Labour Relations Commission, the company that operates the National Car Test, NCT Service (NCTS) Ltd, which is a member of the Swiss multinational SGS Group, had emerged as the preferred candidate to win the contract to provide 40,000 driving tests in a bid to reduce the waiting times for learner drivers.
A total of 404,607 provisional licence-holders were on the road at the end of last December, according to Department of Transport figures. This represents an increase of almost 25,000 on 2004.
The Department has attributed this increase to the rise in the numbers of non-nationals and young drivers applying for driving tests.