I sat my test almost a month ago. Failed my first, makes sense, most people do. Usually takes somewhere between 2-4 attempts. Not butt hurt at all really because I did make a mistake.

The problem is right now the waiting times for some test centers is up to **41 weeks.** I have recently had a friend in Spain fail at the same time, they had their resit after 3 weeks of the initial fail and passed. I am routinely embarrassed by living in this country and its abysmal everything. I honestly think I’ll emigrate before I get the chance to sit the test again. I have spent almost two years in the whole process to get the licence, from the wait to get the theory test, to the wait for a driving school to take me on, then the sporadic availability of my classes, then the 20 week wait for my first driving test. Now who knows how long it will take. If I don’t get it soon, I’ll probably need to renew my learners permit.

It’s not only impossible for young people to get started in life in terms of housing. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get started in terms of transport as well, with the included burn of our public transport being shit. I’m actually sick of travelling one hour on a bus which may not show up, for a journey a car can make in 20 minutes. It honestly feels like I am fighting an uphill battle for every little good thing. I am about to graduate university and my job prospects will be hindered because I can’t legally drive. Someone, somewhere has the ability to fix all of this, but is actively choosing not to.

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[https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/the-driving-test-centre-with-the-longest-wait-time-in-dublin-42267373.html](https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/the-driving-test-centre-with-the-longest-wait-time-in-dublin-42267373.html)

9 comments

  1. You know you can apply for a different test centre and get it done quicker. Almost any test center outside of the M1 is like lightning compared to those within touching distance of it.

  2. It’s almost as if there was a giant pandemic and we shut everything down for a prolonged period of time and thus resulted in the creation of a backlog. The last time there was a massive backlog they had to hire a bunch of temp testers and rent temp testing centres but we don’t seem to be at that point yet

  3. Here’s a trick that worked for me, keep checking the booking site for cancellations, it’s a long (and honestly exhausting) process but if you keep checking (at least 1-2 times a day) and be quick you may eventually find one

    But 41 weeks is absolutely ridiculous

  4. The NCT are the same. Went out in June. Booked in June for first appointment available in December. Failed in December on a small thing, passed in January.

    Only give me a bloody cert until June.

    Go online to book straight back in since the car is perfect.

    Next appointment – August.

    Wtf

  5. OP, highly recommend you phone them. Happened to me and resit was too far out for my liking. Called the rsa number (think they’re based in Ballina?) and said straight up this is the situation now when and where is your next cancellation.

    Was immediately given a booking the very next day about 40mins away. That was a few years ago but I would argue highly worth a shot. They were pure sound tbf to them

  6. Nice to see things haven’t changed. /s

    I did my test in Jan 2004, I had applied in March 2003. 20 years later no improvement.

  7. How hard can this be to fix? 6 weeks to train new driving instructors. They do 10 tests per day, 50 per week, 250 a year. 40 of them would do 10,000 a year.

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