Car: The Driving Test in Ireland

Automotive Guide The Driving Test in Ireland

By: Robin Piggott

Automotive Guide

Driving test standards vary the World over. In a European context the Driving Test in Ireland, while improving and continuing to evolve has a long way to go before it reaches Premier League status. One of the biggest problems with the Irish Driving Test is that there is currently no stipulation regarding the necessary level of tuition to be taken before sitting the Driving Test. In most European Countries there is a mandatory tuition requirement before being allowed to sit the Test.

Since anyone with a Provisional License in Ireland may apply for and sit the Driving Test, the large numbers of applicants that are totally and hopelessly unprepared for the Driving Test has lead to an ever lengthening waiting list .This waiting list is now approximately one year in most Test Centres and despite efforts by the Ministry for Transport it is unlikely to be reduced in the next couple of years.

Why so? Well the increasing level of immigration from all corners of the Globe but primarily from within the EU, means that the list just continues to grow and since the number of Driving Test Examiners is not growing to meet the demand the waiting list gets longer by the day.

Candidates that have not bothered to find out what is required to pass the Irish Driving Test continue to turn up in droves at every Test Centre every day of the week. Also many candidates with an appointment just fail to turn up at all! This of course means that the list keeps on growing and the frustration level amongst genuine candidates with a pressing need for a full license has reached breaking point.

There is a growing world wide acceptance that a certain level of mandatory lessons and supervised Driving is the only way to reduce the horrendous level of young driver fatalities and that by imposing such restrictions on Learner Drivers the message will eventually get through that the process of learning to drive is a serious one that requires a serious approach and a lot of hard work.

As a final comment on this explosive subject it is worth mentioning that the standards in Germany are ones to be applauded where a learner Driver has to complete fifty hours of Tuition , both Theoretical and Practical before being allowed to sit a Driving Test. In addition it must be pointed out that the Driving Test is only the beginning and not the end of the learning process. Most professional Driving Instructors will go way beyond the scope of the Driving Test in their lessons with learner drivers and will attempt to pass on decades of experience which has been learnt the hard way. In Ireland we have a very specific set of road, weather and driver demographics that require in depth study if one is to remain safe and accident free!

Robin Piggott is a Driving Instructor in Ireland who brings four decades of experience to his Astral Driving School based in Limerick. His newly refurbed web site can be found at

http://www.astraldrivingschool.ie Here you can find a treasure trove of everything for the Learner Driver and also pages for the visitor who is contemplating Touring Ireland by Car.

For an in depth look at Passing the Driving Test First Time visit the site and grab your copy of the free seven part mini course. http://www.astraldrivingschool.ie/home.html

Automotive Guide Tag : Driving Test   Learner Driver   Driving

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