Revealed: the county with the highest 'no shows' for driving tests has more than one-third of entire national total lost slots

Such no-shows, which result in the loss of a driver testing slot, have now been identified as a major factor in contributing to the long waiting time to sit a driving test in Ireland – now standing at an average of five months.

Such an average waiting time is almost double the Government and Road Safety Authority (RSA) target.

The revelation came as the RSA insisted that new Department of Transport initiatives will target no-shows and drivers who, through a loophole in regulations, continue to obtain a driving permit despite never having sat a driving test.

In 2022, 28,570 Irish motorists were on a third or subsequent learner permit first issued between 2009 and 2018.

A total of 6,441 motorists failed to show up for a booked driving test centre appointment in 2023. That represents roughly 4pc of the overall total of booked tests.

A massive 2,210 of those lost test slots were in Dublin – more than one-third of the entire national total of missed tests.

Dublin’s total of driving test no-shows is almost 10 times higher than that in Tipperary or Waterford.

Monaghan and Leitrim had the lowest number of no-shows, with just 40 missed appointments each throughout 2023.

The RSA – in a statement to Social Democrats’ Catherine Murphy – insisted that measures were being examined to tackle both the issue of lost driving test slots and the number of motorists driving on a learner permit without having sat a driving test.

“As part of plans to reduce the number of people on a third or subsequent consecutive learner permit, the Department and the RSA are considering a range of measures to ensure that learner permit holders sit a driving test before they can obtain a subsequent learner permit,” an RSA official explained.

“The Minister for Transport is committed to taking action on this issue after the driving test average wait times have been restored to their target level of 10 weeks, which we expect to achieve by the middle of 2024.”

Road-safety campaign group PARC has called for extra road-policing resources, renewed road-safety promotions and a crackdown on driving licence enforcement as a national priority.

PARC founder Susan Gray said ensuring learner drivers sit a driving test is critically important.

Ms Gray also warned that providing resources for garda road policing operations is vital given the worrying surge in road deaths across Ireland.

“The number of deaths on Irish roads should be a cause of concern for everyone,” she said.

The PARC official said reforming the driver test system to deliver maximum efficiency was an issue of paramount importance.

“It needs to be really highlighted to encourage (the Department of) Transport and the RSA to change regulations.”

Junior Transport Minister Jack Chambers said he was pressing for reforms including a tackling of drivers on multiple learner permits.

“At the Ministerial Committee on Road Safety on November 16, I made clear my commitment to tackling the issue of learner drivers rolling over learner permits indefinitely without ever sitting a test,” he said.

“As I have set out previously, I want action to be taken to address this issue as soon as service levels in the driver testing service are restored to an acceptable level.

“At the end of January, the average wait time to be called for a test was 19.5 weeks and it has been falling steadily since the peak of over 30 weeks last August.

“The RSA remains confident that a 10-week average waiting time will be restored by the middle of 2024.

“In parallel, discussions are also ongoing between the RSA and my officials on the new learner permit regime that will be introduced when the 10-week wait time is restored.

“This issue does not require primary legislation to address and, as such, there are no relevant provisions included in the Road Traffic Bill 2024.”

While Ireland remains one of the safest countries in Europe in terms of road travel, the death rate has been rising over recent years.

In contrast, it has been falling in many other European countries.

Current figures indicate that almost 70pc of fatal collisions in Ireland occur between 7pm and 4am.

According to RSA research, the highest-risk age among road users in 2023 was those aged 16-25 years.

This group represented 26pc of total fatalities (48 deaths) and the figures represented an overall increase of 23 road user fatalities compared to the 2022 figures.

Men are also dying on Irish roads at a rate of five-to-one compared to women.

RSA Chairperson Liz O’Donnell warned the recent scale of road fatalities was “a cause of serious concern”.