Driving testers have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action in a row with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) over insurance indemnity.
Members of the Fórsa trade union voted by 95 per cent in favour of industrial action, based on a voter turnout of 83 per cent.
The vote comes as Fórsa representatives are due to attend talks with the RSA at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Tuesday, January 20th. The talks follow a joint referral made by the parties in December.
It follows a drop in current car driving test waiting times from about 16 weeks in mid-2024 towards the RSA’s target of 10 weeks. However higher demand in more populous areas have seen longer waiting times for tests.
Should industrial action go ahead it could have a detrimental effect on waiting times.
On Tuesday, Fórsa accused the RSA of “failure to ensure that driver testers are fully and unconditionally covered by the State Claims Agency while carrying out their duties”.
In addition, Fórsa said the insurance verification system leaves driver testers at risk when carrying out their work.
The union said that at present there was “no way to verify whether vehicles presented for driving tests are fully insured, and therefore driver testers are may not be fully indemnified”.
In a response, the RSA said it could confirm that driver testers were “fully indemnified whilst carrying out their duties as public servants”.
It said while it noted the outcome of the recent ballot of its driver tester staff members, it “also notes that there is a confirmed WRC hearing date to consider this matter in full and looks forward to engaging with staff representatives”.
The Department of Transport said it welcomed the commitment from both parties to engage with the WRC, but declined to comment further.