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 and neither I nor my department have the power to intervene in individual cases. Given the RSA's responsibility in this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the RSA for direct, detailed reply. Please contact my private office if a response is not received within ten days
Regarding the retesting process, I am told that all retest candidates are prioritised and issued an invitation to book a test within 10 weeks of their unsuccessful driving test. However, this will depend upon demand at the selected test centre.
The Deputy may also wish to note that a change was made to the online booking system for the National Car Test in October 2023. Unused test slots are now made available for candidates to take up at short notice. If a driving test is cancelled at short notice, the Authority now make this appointment available on the MyRoadSafety portal.