A record number of learner drivers failed to attend for their driving test in October, with 1,089 “no shows”.
The highest monthly figure is among the 8,550 no-shows for the year to the end of November.
Last year overall, 8,663 learners failed to put in an appearance, up from 6,440 in 2023.
No-show candidates do not cancel their test, but fail to attend. This means their appointment slot cannot be taken by another learner driver.
The figures were issued as it emerged that driving-test waiting times had dropped slightly from an average of 11.42 weeks at the end of November to 11.38 weeks on December 19th.
This is, however, 1.38 weeks above the target of 10 weeks, which was achieved in September after years of increases.
Mulhuddart, west Dublin, remains the test centre with the highest waiting time of 22 weeks, followed by Dún Laoghaire at 21 weeks. Newcastle West, Co Limerick, has the shortest waiting time at six weeks. However, 28 of the State’s 57 test centres have waiting times above target.
Susan Gray, who chairs road safety campaign group Parc, said: “Driving-test waiting times are climbing since hitting the target in September. The no-shows are climbing, which we’ve always said was a huge factor in driving-test waiting times because it’s clogging up the whole system.”
Ms Gray, who criticised the Government’s U-turn last week on a plan to overhaul the Road Safety Authority (RSA), said the organisation “doesn’t seem to have the capability of realising what the dogs in the street know: no-shows climbing, driving-test waiting times climbing; there has to be a connection”.
“If testers are sitting, wasting their time, it does not matter how many more testers they get because a percentage of them will be twiddling their thumbs,” she said.
“They said in 2013 about learner drivers rolling over their permits that it was a massive problem.
“They put Action Plan 33 into their road safety strategy. It said they were going to end learner drivers getting multiple permits and close that loophole by the first quarter of 2014. It’s still a problem 11 years later and getting bigger.”
The no-show figures were issued to Fine Gael Dublin West TD Emer Currie, who said she was “extremely disappointed” at another record number.
“The minimum number this year was in January when 533 failed to turn up, so it’s likely to be a record year. Last year’s figure was 8,663 and it’s already at 8,550 up to November.”
She said the RSA had been given a year to sort the multi-permit problem, “but in the meantime the no-shows mean that 8,550 hours of driver tester time is wasted”.
“That’s the equivalent of four driver testers each being fully paid for almost a year yet doing no tests,” she said.
“The RSA is getting almost €750,000 in fees for the no-shows, but the authority’s job is not fundraising.”
An RSA spokesman said the 8,550 no-shows represented 3.5 per cent of all tests booked.
“Since the driver testing service changed to self-serve in December 2020, there has been a marked decrease in the number of no-shows, which were running at 11.1 per cent in 2019,” the RSA said.
Ms Currie welcomed the RSA’s efforts to get average waiting times back to 10 weeks, but said “it is so disappointing that learners in Mulhuddart still have the longest wait at 22 weeks, that is almost six months”.
“And that’s just to be invited to apply for the test which could take a further three to five weeks,” she said.
An independent external review of the RSA by Indecon Economic Consultants last year recommended it be reformed by separating the authority into two agencies, one that is responsible for road safety and another for operational activities such as the NCT and driver testing.
However, the Government announced earlier this month it was not going ahead with the recommendation.