Waiting times for the driving test have increased dramatically following the announcement in December of a crackdown on provisional licence-holders.
A number of test centres are reporting a three-fold increase in delays in the last month. The demand is such that no postal applications sent to the State's driving testing processing unit in Ballina, Co Mayo, have been opened since December 18th, The Irish Times has learned.
Provisional licence-holders who have recently applied to sit their driving tests now face a wait of more than six months in certain centres.
The slowest centre in the State is in Naas, where people have to wait 28 weeks to sit their driving test. On December 2nd last, the wait was only 11 weeks. The next worst are Cork and Shannon which reported delays of 27 weeks this week, up from eight weeks and 11 weeks respectively at the start of December.
Dublin applicants also face long delays, where the average wait for a test is more than five months; in Churchtown, Rathgar and Tallaght there is a 26-week wait, in Raheny, it is 20 weeks. The only centre in the State not to record an increase was Finglas, Dublin, where the delay remains at 15 weeks.
The Department of Transport's offices in Ballina, have been struggling to cope with a flood of applications since the Minister, Mr Brennan, said last month that provisional licence-holders would soon be unable to drive without the company of a fully-licenced driver.
"We have been inundated with applications in the last month, we're completely flooded out," a senior staff member at the Ballina offices said.
"We have a backlog of post sitting unopened since December 18th. Anyone who applied by then would not have had their application opened yet."
Those whose applications remain unopened have not even reached the waiting list stage, thus adding to the delay. Last weekend, more than 700 Internet applications were made to the Department of Transport; a normal weekend usually saw fewer than 120, the staff member said.
People ringing Ballina with concerns about the delay had, for the most part, been understanding, he said. However as no extra staff had been taken on, the situation was likely to get worse before it gets better.
"In 2001 we conducted 172,000 driving tests; the figure for last year isn't out yet, but without extra resources, it will stay the same," he said.
More than 300,000 provisional licence-holders are on the roads, but there are only 116 testers in the State. A spokesman for the Minister said he would be considering "the extent of the reforms needed in the licensing area".
