Learner drivers locally are facing wait times of up to two months to sit their tests.
Nearly 46,500 people are on waiting lists throughout the country after being deemed eligible for the exam.
19 centres have backlogs of over 12 weeks, and the worst is Killester in Dublin, at 31 weeks.
In Kilkenny, it’s understood the next available exam spots are in mid-October while in Carlow it’s the second week of November.
Dublin driving instructor Ian Daly, from automatic-lessons dot ie, says there should be extended hours for tests; “People have to take a day off work if they work nine to five so if they had the option to do an evening test or a weekend test, of course, you know during the sumemr with climate change you know weather has been much better, obviously it bright later at night time, it’d be perfect, a lot of people would actually be for that, it’s really down to the RSA or the testers, will they pay over time, will they take on extra testers?”
You can keep up to date with test times via the RSA’s portal