Laois Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley is calling on Minister Eamon Ryan to take action regarding long waiting times for driving tests.
Deputy Stanley says that the current waiting times in the Laois /Offaly are unacceptable.
He said: “Currently the waiting time in the Birr centre is 24 weeks with Portlaoise being 25 weeks.
“Tullamore centre is considerably better at 14 weeks. The delays with tests in Portlaoise and Birr are double the waiting times of Ballina and Shannon, as the waiting times in both of these test centres are just 12 weeks.’’
“The Laois/Offaly delays are scandalous, and we have highlighted this to Minister Ryan on a number of occasions.
“Both the Minister and Government have failed to take action on this. This is causing real problems, in particular for young workers in rural areas who have no other means of travelling.
“We receive regular complaints from people who need a licence to use a car for work and other essential travel.
“Across the Midlands the option of public transport is not available to facilitate early morning travel to work as in most cases the services are later in the day.’’
“The Minister now needs to ensure that his officials and the Road Safety Authority put the resources in place to sort out the unacceptable backlogs.”
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