A Government minister has said that he will be checking with the Road Safety Authority every two weeks to see if it is meeting its target to reduce the waiting time for a driving test.
Earlier, the RSA said this should be cut to ten weeks by the start of September.
The authority said the current waiting time is 22 weeks, down from 27 weeks at the end of April.
Minister of State in the Department of Transport Seán Canney said there will be driving tests early in the morning and late in the evening as part of an effort to clear the backlog.
New testers are also being trained "and they're coming into the system over the next couple of months, which will have a major effect in reducing the waiting times," he told RTÉ's Drivetime.
Mr Canney said that other options - including hiring retired people and using trained testers who work in other areas of the RSA - are being considered as well as contracting private instructors.
"We will see some improvement in the next two weeks. I have a meeting with the RSA in two weeks time ... I want to see if they're meeting that plan, and I will look and review that every two weeks."
Earlier, RSA Chief Operating Officer Brendan Walsh said the reduction in waiting times will be achieved by hiring more testers, and, where possible, running tests early in the morning, later in the evening and on Saturdays.
He said that staff have also offered to work on bank holiday Mondays.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"We've introduced 41 new testers into our service. We have another 20 in training at the moment, another twelve will join them in two weeks time. A further 18 will join the service in July for training.
"In addition our staff have committed to deliver tests where possible, at half seven in the morning, running out to 7pm, in addition working Saturdays and also, for the first time ever, offering to work on bank holiday Mondays," Mr Walsh told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
He noted an unprecedented level of demand for tests while the number of people awaiting retests varies.
"In 2021 we carried out 160,000 tests. Last year, we carried out a quarter of a million driving tests. That's why we need this plan. That's why we need permanent staff."
Mr Walsh said that a number of sites have been identified across the country for new test centres.
