Loophole enabling drivers to stay on roads without taking test finally closed ... 13 years after first planned

The most significant change in a generation to the operation of driving tests and learner permits comes into effect on Sunday, 13 years after it was first included in the Road Safety Authority’s (RSA) strategy.From November 1st, learners will no longer be able to continuously renew their permits without actually taking a driving test.It has been the practice for decades that a learner could keep getting a new permit or provisional licence just by applying and paying for a test.Now learners will be allowed two learner permits each lasting two years, after which they must take their driving test. READ MOREIf they fail, a third two-year permit is allowed, followed by another test. If they fail, a fourth one-year permit can be issued again, but it will last just a year. Failure then means going back to the theory test and driving lessons.According to RSA figures, there are already 73,000 learners on three or more permits, of whom 35,000 have booked and paid for a test in advance of the deadline.Authority chief operating officer Brendan Walsh said 11,000 people are on 11 or more permits, with a “handful” on 40 or more – driving for at least 40 years on a provisional licence.[ RSA spend €30m on media campaigns since 2023Opens in new window ]Some 16,000 people, mainly under 40, are on their third learner permit and “a huge number are in their early to mid-20s” and expected to be through the system “very quickly”, he said.However, there has been a surge in test applications from a system already struggling to meet demand.Road safety campaign group Parc pointed out that proposals to limit the number of permits were included in the RSA’s 2013-2020 road safety strategy by then RSA chief executive Noel Brett.Parc founder Susan Gray said following his resignation shortly afterwards “nobody took up the baton since, until [Minister of State for Transport] Seán Canney”. Parc met the Minister in 2025 and “straight away he acted on it”, she said. She praised Canney for allocating another 70 driver testers to help cut the average waiting time for a test. Walsh said the average waiting time is now 11.9 weeks, “not catastrophic” in the context of its target time of 10 weeks. However, a record 330,000 people will have applied for a test by year-end, including those seeking to get their test application in before the November 1st deadline.The public sector work-to-rule has had an impact, but 290,000 are expected to have been tested by the end of 2026.Up to September “we’ve delivered 224,000 tests but demand over that same period was 249,000 tests”, Walsh said, with 16 per cent for “people on multiple learner permits”.However, just three of 57 test centres across the State met the 10-week waiting time target. Kilrush, Co Clare, Naas, Co Kildare and Roscommon reached the target, but getting a test date takes a further three to five weeks. Tallaght, Co Dublin had a waiting time of six months.There are now 204 driver testers with hopes of recruiting more. When Walsh started in the role four years ago, “there were 130”.Some €1.1 million was spent on tester overtime up to the end of August, significantly above last year’s €780,000 total. The money is from fees and “not a cost to the State”.Can Israel’s opposition parties oust Netanyahu? The number of “no-shows”, however, learners who apply for their tests but then fail to attend their appointment, proved an alarming problem. Last year 9,193 “no-show” applicants failed to cancel, and nobody could use their test appointment. The figure to the end of September this year is 7,515.Walsh said until now there was nothing they could have done “because it is your constitutional right to apply for your driving test and it’s also your right not to turn up for it”.But “the no-shows should really start to drop off over the next year” as the rules take effect.The RSA wrote to the 73,000 learners on their third or subsequent permit, of whom 20,000 have not engaged, “and they’re my big worry”, said Walsh.“When they go to apply for their next learner permit, the majority will probably not be able to get it” and will have to take a test, putting even more pressure on the system.As to when things will finally improve, it will probably be “midpoint or Q3 [third quarter] next year, before the service goes back to normal – with a fair wind”.