The Taoiseach has condemned as untenable a waiting time of "almost a year" for a driving test in Drogheda.
Leo Varadkar insisted that "we will do everything we can to get that waiting list down".
The average wait time for a test is 21 weeks, which is far off the service level agreement, he noted.
"Nobody should have to wait more than ten weeks", Mr Varadkar said.
Independent TD Peter Fitzpatrick had criticised the closure of the temporary test centre at Drogheda Town Football Club, Marian Park, which he said has forced 2,717 people to transfer to other centres "such as Dundalk".
The temporary centre was opened two years ago and its closure has cast people into "limbo", he said, and urged that a permanent centre be opened in the town.
As of December, an applicant in Drogheda can expect to wait 38 weeks for a test, 32 weeks in Navan and 27 weeks in Dundalk, Deputy Fitzpatrick said.
The situation in Drogheda has further deteriorated, it emerged, with Mr Varadkar revealing that the wait time now stands at 43 weeks, "which isn't a tenable situation - people having to wait almost a year to get their driving test."
"There are only four testers in Navan for a population of 223,000", Deputy Fitzpatrick noted.
Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath said that in Clonmel the waiting time is 29 weeks.
This is a "huge frustration to young people in particular" and needs to be dealt with, he said.
Mr Varadkar insisted that plans to increase the total number of testers by 30% would clear the backlog.
The Road Safety Authority is continuing its search for a suitable site for a centre in Drogheda, he added.
Mr Fitzpatrick said that he had passed his test when he was 18 years of age and that it had made a huge difference in his life.
Mr Varadkar was 18 when he passed his test, but it was his second try, which he said was like his "electoral record, it took two attempts to succeed".
But he said that he has met the family members of people who had been killed by an unaccompanied driver.
"It is a fact that people who haven't passed their test are more at risk of harming themselves and harming other people", he said.
An increase in injuries would be worse outcome than long wait times, he said.
James O'Connor Fianna Fáil TD said that there is a backlog of almost 400,000 people who are waiting to get an NCT.
"This is a real problem", Mr Varadkar acknonwledged, adding that the Government is working with the contractor to remedy it.
