Written Answers Nos. 283-303
283. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Transport if he will consider the creation of a new direct route from Ongar village to Blanchardstown village; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5129/26]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in conjunction with the relevant transport operators.
In light of the NTA’s responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.
284. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Transport if he will consider the extension of train routes from Dublin 15 to Dublin city centre beyond Connolly Station at weekends to stops within the city; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5130/26]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport.
The query raised by the Deputy is an operational matter for Iarnród Éireann. I have, therefore, referred the Deputy's question to the company for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.
285. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Transport when he will sanction the increase in payment for those in receipt of the Pre-1951 CIÉ employees’ pension scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5175/26]
View answer287. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport if the agreement reached between the CIÉ Group and the company's trade union group (details supplied) in relation to CIÉ's pension schemes means any increases will be back paid to the date of the agreement in August 2025. [5213/26]
View answer288. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport the expected timeline for publication of statutory measures and the commencement of public consultation as per the agreement between the CIÉ Group and the company's trade union (details supplied) in relation to CIÉ's pension schemes in August 2025. [5214/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 285, 287 and 288 together.
As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. As a commercial semi-state body, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) are responsible for the provision of pension schemes for their employees.
Following on from the constructive and collaborative approach of the Trade Union Group and CIÉ management in reaching agreement on a pathway forward as of May 2025, my Department are currently engaging with CIÉ as well as financial advisors at NewERA, the Pensions Authority and the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Services, Reform and Digitalisation on the next steps in progressing the agreement and bringing CIÉ pensions onto a more stable footing for the benefit of active, and retired scheme members, including review of the relevant statutory instruments and the matter of increases to pension payments.
My Department and all relevant stakeholders are endeavouring to achieve the same at the earliest, keeping in line with the appropriate procedures, compliance with all applicable requirements, and necessary approvals as part of the formal process.
Decisions regarding pension increases are ultimately a matter for the CIÉ Board as informed by actuarial advice and are subject to requirements imposed by statute and scheme rules. Accordingly, I have referred this aspect of the Deputy's question to CIÉ for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.
286. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Transport when legislation will be introduced so that a regime of routine or random physical inspections of aircraft landing in Ireland can be introduced particularly in relation to the use of Shannon airport by the US military [5211/26]
View answerMy Department has responsibility for civil aircraft only, my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee is responsible for matters relating to military aircraft.
Article 8 of the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1973 and 1989 empowers the Minster for Transport to carry out an inspection of civil aircraft flying from any place within the State. The exercise of this power is conditional on there being an appearance, to the Minster for Transport of an intention or likelihood that the civil aircraft concerned is to fly in such circumstances that would be in contravention of the 1973 and 1989 orders. To date, such an appearance of intention or likelihood of contravention has not occurred.
No decision has been taken on the introduction of legislation as referenced by the Deputy.
289. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the current average waiting times for driving tests, broken down by licence category, HGV, bus and other commercial categories, by test centre, for each of the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5237/26]
View answer290. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport whether he will provide a comparison between average waiting times for private car driving tests and for commercial driving tests, including HGV and bus licences; the extent to which these waiting times differ; and the reasons for any disparity. [5238/26]
View answer292. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the number of commercial driving tests (HGV and bus) conducted by the Road Safety Authority in each month of the past two years; the way in which this compares with private car tests over the same period; and if he will outline the reasons for any significant changes. [5240/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 289, 290 and 292 together.
Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service. This includes all application and scheduling matters. As such, the information requested relating to waiting times by licence category is held by the Authority.
Therefore, I have referred the Deputy's questions to the RSA for direct reply, and I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten days.
The Deputy may wish to note that the RSA publish detailed monthly information on the driver testing service on the CSO website. This information is available at the following link: Driver and Vehicle Testing Transport Hub - Central Statistics Office (www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/hubs/p-transo/transporthub/driverandvehicletesting/).
291. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport whether driving testers within the RSA have been reassigned from commercial driving tests to private car driving tests in order to reduce overall waiting-time averages; if so, when this practice commenced; and the impact it has had on waiting times for commercial licence applicants. [5239/26]
View answerUnder the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service. This includes deployment of driver testers. As such, the information requested relating to distribution of driver testers is held by the Authority. I have referred the Deputy's questions to the RSA for direct reply, and I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten days.
Pending this detailed response, I understand from my engagements with the RSA that there was an unavoidable reduction in the number of commercial driving and professional competency tests conducted in June and July of last year as a substantial number of new driver testers were in the process of being trained. In anticipation of this reduction, a concerted effort was made to test additional commercial vehicles last May and significant numbers of tests were conducted from August to the end of the year as additional testing capacity entered the system.
With the sanction for permanent driving testing positions now increased to 200, this increased capacity will be embedded in the system going forward and help to ensure that the RSA is capable of conducting a greater volume of tests for all categories of vehicles, including commercial vehicles, each year. This increased capacity was reflected in the average national wait time for a truck or bus driving test, with figures provided by the RSA showing that this fell from 16 weeks at the end of last July to 10.6 weeks at the end of December 2025.
293. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport whether any driving test centres have had periods during which no commercial driving tests were scheduled or conducted; the reasons for this; and the steps being taken to ensure available testing capacity for professional drivers is fully utilised. [5241/26]
View answerUnder the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service. This includes all application and scheduling matters. As such, the information requested relating to waiting times by licence category is held by the Authority. Therefore, I have referred the Deputy's questions to the RSA for direct reply, and I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten days.
Pending this detailed response, I understand from my engagements with the RSA that there was an unavoidable reduction in the number of commercial driving and professional competency tests conducted in June and July of last year as a substantial number of new driver testers were in the process of being trained. In anticipation of this reduction, a concerted effort was made to test additional commercial vehicles last May and significant numbers of tests were then conducted from August to the end of the year as additional testing capacity entered the system.
With the sanction for permanent driving testing positions now increased to 200, this increased capacity will be embedded in the system going forward and help to ensure that the RSA is capable of conducting a greater volume of tests for all categories of vehicles, including commercial vehicles, each year. This increased capacity was reflected in the average national wait time for a truck or bus driving test, with figures provided by the RSA showing that this fell from 16 weeks at the end of last July to 10.6 weeks at the end of December 2025.
294. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport whether he has assessed the impact of prolonged waiting times for HGV and bus driving tests on labour shortages within the road haulage and public transport sectors; and if so, the findings of that assessment. [5242/26]
View answer296. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the engagement he or his Department has had with representative bodies in the road haulage sector regarding delays in commercial driving tests; and the actions that have been agreed, arising from this engagement. [5244/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 294 and 296 together.
Professional drivers of Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDV) are critical to the effective operation of our public transport and road freight sectors. This Government is committed to working with those sectors to ensure a sustainable, long-term development of skilled employees needed to support these essential sectors.
While there was an unavoidable reduction in the number of HDV driving and professional competency tests conducted in June and July of last year as a substantial number of new driver testers were in the process of being trained, significant numbers of tests were conducted from August to the end of the year as additional testing capacity entered the system. With the sanction for permanent driving testing positions now increased to 200, this increased capacity will be embedded in the system going forward and help to ensure that the RSA is capable of conducting a greater volume of tests for all categories of vehicles, including HDVs, each year. This increased capacity was reflected in the average national wait time for a truck or bus driving test, with figures provided by the RSA showing that this fell from 16 weeks at the end of last July to 10.6 weeks at the end of December.
Expediting commercial driving tests is an important step in alleviating the HDV driver’s shortage, it’s important to note that it is just one of the steps needed for recruitment of drivers. There is a long-standing labour shortage and skills gap in the industry with a particularly acute global shortage of HDV drivers.
The Department of Transport engages directly with industry representatives from the road haulage sector and public transport sectors to discuss challenges facing both industries, including driver shortages, and opportunities to create long-term stability in the sector. In the road haulage sector, the Department regularly meets with industry representatives through the Road Freight Forum (RFF) and the Logistics and Supply Chain Skills Group (LSCSG) to co-ordinate the delivery of the Road Haulage Strategy 2022-2031.
Both the Road Haulage Strategy 2022-2031 and the Logistics and Supply Chain Skills Group (LSCSG) Work Programme 2024-2027 include measures to tackle the labour shortages and address skills gaps in the sector. This includes short-term measures such as agreeing licence exchange agreements with non-EU countries to facilitate recruitment from overseas, medium-term actions such as working across Departments to review the recruitment process for overseas drivers, and longer-term actions such as the annual LSCSG Skills Week and LogisTYcs Skills Expo to highlight careers in the sector.
Funding has been made available to support apprenticeships, educational programmes and training in the skills needed to address these shortages. Improvements have been made to the driver Certificate of Professional Competence curriculum, including identifying alternative training courses that can count towards drivers periodic training requirements, and further updates are expected this year. Department officials will continue to work with the sector in the implementation of the current actions and a mid-point review of the Road Haulage Strategy will get underway towards the end of this year to identify additional actions to support the sector.
In relation to public transport, the Programme for Government (PfG) has committed to "enhance and support the delivery of a skilled workforce to maintain and operate public transport vehicles". To support this objective, the Department currently chairs the Public Transport Workforce Taskforce which aims to progress this PfG commitment and to identify options to assist with resolving challenges regarding the recruitment of drivers and mechanics/craftworkers.
The taskforce includes representatives from the School Transport section in the Department of Education, relevant transport operators and agencies, and training bodies. The aim of the taskforce is to work collaboratively to identify contributing factors to the recruitment issues and put forward an action plan with recommendations and measures to create a pipeline of workers to address these issues.
295. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the target waiting times that apply specifically to commercial driving tests; whether these targets are being met; and if not, the corrective measures being planned. [5243/26]
View answerUnder the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service. Neither I nor my officials are involved in the service at an operational level. Given the RSA's responsibility in this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct response. Please contact my office if a reply is not received within ten days.
Pending this more detailed response, the operational target average wait time for a non-Category B test, which includes commercial driving tests in Categories C and D, is 10 weeks. The latest figures provided to me by the RSA indicate that as at the end of December 2025 the national average wait time for a truck or bus driving test was approximately 10.6 weeks, which marked a substantial reduction on the 16 week average wait time as at the end of July 2025.
This reduction was achieved by the training and onboarding of additional testers last year, after my Department issued sanction in September 2024 to increase the permanent driving tester headcount from 130 to 200. With this increased capacity permanently embedded in the system going forward, the RSA is capable of conducting a greater volume of tests for all categories of vehicles, including HGVs, each year.
297. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport whether consideration has been given to establishing a dedicated commercial driving test stream within the Road Safety Authority to ensure professional drivers are not disadvantaged by overall demand for private car tests; and if not, the reason. [5245/26]
View answerUnder the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service. Neither I nor my officials are involved in the service at an operational level. Given the RSA's responsibility in this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct response. Please contact my office if a reply is not received within ten days.
However it should be noted that the sanction for permanent driving testing positions is now increased to 200. This increased capacity will be embedded in the system going forward and help to ensure that the RSA is capable of conducting a greater volume of tests for all categories of vehicles, including commercial tests, each year. This increased capacity was reflected in the average national wait time for a truck or bus driving test, with figures provided by the RSA showing that this fell from 16 weeks at the end of last July to 10.6 weeks at the end of December.
298. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the oversight mechanisms in place to ensure that reported improvements in national driving-test waiting times accurately reflect waiting times across all licence categories, including commercial drivers. [5246/26]
View answerUnder the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service.
Since taking office, reducing driver test waiting times has been a key priority for me. To that end in May 2025 I directed the RSA to produce and publish a service recovery plan to meet the 10-week average national waiting time target by September 2025, which the RSA achieved. In Q4 2025 there was a small increase in average wait times. In response to this increase I instructed the RSA to resume providing my Department a fortnightly update on the performance of the driver testing service. In that regard, the latest information available to me from the RSA indicates that the average national waiting time for a driving test was 10.6 weeks at the end of December. This marks a significant improvement on the 27-week average wait time in April 2025.
In line with other public bodies the RSA is subject to the Code of Practice on the Governance of State Bodies. In that regard, an oversight agreement is in place between my Department and the RSA which sets out the roles and responsibilities of the RSA. As part of this oversight structure my Department holds four oversight meetings - one per quarter - annually with the RSA where the RSA reports on all areas of its work, including in relation to the driver testing service.
These quarterly meetings are complemented by monthly operational updates for all of the RSA's services and significant projects, which my officials review and interrogate.
299. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport to request from the NTA, further to its work to identify the Dublin Bus routes with the greatest capacity issues, the ten most affected routes, in order, including all operators, by month since July 2025. [5249/26]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in conjunction with the relevant transport operators, in this case, Dublin Bus.
In light of the NTA’s responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.
300. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Transport if the NTA are considering a bus service for the town of Tullamore under the Town Bus Programme; when a decision will be made in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5263/26]
View answerAs Minister of State at the Department of Transport with special responsibility for Rural Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to rural public transport service provision; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally including New Towns Bus Programme. In light of the NTA responsibilities I have referred your question to the NTA for direct reply to you. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.
301. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Transport the towns which have been previously been approved by the NTA for a bus service under the Town Bus Programme; the towns which now have an operational service; the number using this service daily; the cost of this service, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5264/26]
View answerAs Minister of State at the Department of Transport with special responsibility for Rural Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to rural public transport service provision; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally including New Town bus programme. In light of the NTA responsibilities I have referred your question to the NTA for direct reply to you. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.
302. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Transport if he is aware of reports that third party businesses are advertising the ability to secure Irish driving test appointments within a short number of days by bypassing the normal waiting list; the examination or investigation which has been undertaken by his Department, the Road Safety Authority or any other relevant State body into these practices; whether such services are lawful; the steps being taken to prevent any abuse of the booking system or unfair access to driving tests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5270/26]
View answerUnder the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has statutory responsibility for the National Driver Testing Service, I have therefore referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct reply. I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten days.
Pending this full response, I understand that the RSA is aware of some third party applications purporting to offer driving test candidates cancelled appointments. The only official site for booking a driving test slot is the RSA operated MyRoadSafety portal. The RSA is not affiliated with any third party booking systems and I would urge anybody seeking to book a test to do so through the official RSA portal.
Additionally, the RSA ICT department continues to work closely with their partners to ensure that such sites or third parties are restricted in their ability to access the booking portal.
303. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Transport to include Drogheda in the Greater Dublin Area for transport planning; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5304/26]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure across Ireland.
The revised statutory Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2022-2042 was developed by the NTA, in consultation with the relevant Local Authorities, and published in 2023 following the Minister for Transport’s approval. This strategy sets out how transport will be developed across the region, covering Dublin, Meath, Wicklow and Kildare, in accordance with the Dublin Transport Authority Act, as amended. The next review of the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy is due to commence in 2027. Once sufficiently developed the draft Transport Strategy will be opened to full public consultation.
Noting the NTA's responsibility in the matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for a direct reply. Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.
