The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has accused the Road Safety Authority (RSA) of worsening a growing backlog in commercial driver testing by shifting resources away from bus, truck, and HGV testing in favour of car driving tests.
In letters sent to Ministers Darragh O’Brien and Seán Canney, the IRHA claims that the RSA’s recent moves have led to a 10% drop in car test waiting lists between April and June 2025, at the cost of a dramatic surge in wait times for commercial licences.
The IRHA says the number of people waiting for a category C truck test rose by 42% during that same period, while articulated (CE) truck test waiting lists jumped by nearly 40%. Bus driver tests have also reportedly stalled. Hauliers warn that the decisions are fuelling a “crisis in the making” for the commercial driving sector.
IRHA President Ger Hyland said the RSA, under political pressure, opted to reassign existing testers rather than expand capacity overall.
He described the move as “robbing Peter to pay Paul” and warned it could cripple the country’s supply chains.
“Young Irish drivers who need a licence to drive a bus, truck or HGV cannot get licences because the RSA have all but stopped commercial testing to focus on car testing,” Hyland said.
“Instead of dealing with the high demand, they decided to simply move the deck chairs around the Titanic.”
Driving instructors across the country are reporting serious disruption.
One HGV instructor in Kerry told the IRHA he has had no commercial test scheduled in Tralee since May, with no expectations for another until at least August.
Some of his students have been waiting since January.
Hyland added: “We are now importing drivers from South Africa while Irish drivers are leaving the country to work elsewhere. It’s a direct result of this failed approach.”
Figures supplied to the IRHA by the Central Statistics Office appear to back up the claims. Between April and June 2025:
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Scheduled tests for articulated trucks fell 69%, from 242 in April to just 75 in June.
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Scheduled category C truck tests dropped 61.8%, from 356 to 136.
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Car and van scheduled tests, meanwhile, increased by 49.2%, rising from 15,287 in April to 22,810 in June.
These changes occurred in the same period that Minister Seán Canney met with RSA leadership and demanded urgent proposals to reduce wait times.
The IRHA argues that the RSA responded by improving figures for car tests to gain political favour, while ignoring the knock-on impact on the commercial sector.
Despite a decrease in applications for truck and articulated truck tests over the same period, down 12.6% and 8.5% respectively, the number of people waiting for commercial tests rose significantly.
At the end of June, 1,289 people were waiting for a truck test, up from 907 in April.
Hyland concluded: “They’ve just moved the crisis from one area to another.
“The RSA is clearly not fit for purpose.
“This mismanagement is actively harming economic growth, especially in rural Ireland.”
The IRHA is now calling for the removal of driver testing responsibilities from the RSA altogether, warning that further inaction will damage both the sector and the wider economy.
