(irishtimes.com)
A Senator made representations on behalf of someone who was not allowed to do their driving test because they were wearing sandals.
It was one of dozens of queries from public representatives released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) under the Freedom of Information Act.
It reported a 93 per cent increase in such emails up to November 2025, when compared with the same period last year.
Some 45 per cent of these queries related to driving tests, “with the majority looking for a test date for a constituent or for an update on a constituent’s driving test application”, a representative said.
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In a random sample of queries sent this year, some TDs and Senators requested driving tests be “expedited” for constituents, as waits for learner drivers reached an average of about 27 weeks earlier this year.
“The above named was scheduled to do his test today but he wasn’t allowed to proceed as he was wearing sandals,” an email written on behalf of Fine Gael Senator Manus Boyle to the RSA in July reads.
“He is only here for two and half weeks as he presently lives abroad but is moving here next year and wanted to have his driving licence in order on his return. He has reapplied so is there any way to expedite the application?”
More than 100,000 learners were waiting for a slot before the RSA launched an action plan in May to reduce waits to the 10-week service level agreement target.
In April Minister of State Alan Dillon wrote that two “integral” staff members of a company were awaiting tests, adding: “I would respectfully ask if it was possible to expedite their tests.”
Several requests for expedited tests were based on a constituent’s need for a licence for work purposes, with Fine Gael Senator Gareth Scahill asking that the individual be facilitated as a “matter of urgency”.
Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith, meanwhile, asked the RSA for “urgent and favourable consideration” to be given to one constituent who required a licence for work.
In November Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae wrote that a man who applied to sit a bus driving test had been told he could be waiting up to 16 weeks, before asking if “there is any way he could be called sooner”.
Minister of State Colm Brophy, meanwhile, asked if a re-test for a trainee primary schoolteacher, whose initial test was cancelled due to a faulty brake light, could be “carried out at an earlier date”.
Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice wrote that his constituent had been advised of a seven-month wait for a test, saying “he would be grateful if his application can be expedited”.
In April Fine Gael TD John Clendennen requested that the RSA “consider expediting” the driving test of a constituent “at the earliest possible date”, noting the wait was causing “significant struggles” getting to and from work in the evenings at a rural pub.
Other requests for expedited, “sooner” or “earlier” tests for constituents were submitted by or on behalf of Minister of State Niamh Smyth, Fine Gael TD Joe Cooney, Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú, Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan, and Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart.
The RSA said it does “not prioritise any driving test applicant based on queries from public representatives”.
“We operate a fair and transparent appointment scheduling process as it is only fair that those who are eligible and have waited the longest would be offered a test first,” it said.