The Labour Party has said that new figures show there is only one driving tester for every 1,000 applicants waiting to sit the driving test.
Roisín Shortall said data from the Department of Transport indicates there are currently 119,624 people on waiting lists - 10,000 more than two years ago.
However she added that the waiting-list delay is compounded by the fact that there are just 116 testers available at the test centres around the country.
Ms Shortall said a year ago there were 130 examiners at the 48 test centres but now there are just 116.
She said the average waiting time for a driving test is extremely long. In Thurles, the average waiting time is 43 weeks, in Nenagh and Carlow it is 42 weeks, with the national average at just 30 weeks.
