The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has been forced to reschedule as many as 400 driving tests due to industrial action by its testers. The action, set to take place next Wednesday (April 2), will mean that drivers - likely a bundle of nerves as they aim to perfect their reverse around a corner and cram in the entire Rules of the Road - have a stay of execution, though this will come as little consolation to those that have psyched themselves up for the test.
Driver testers are due to stage a half-day strike from 2pm on Wednesday April 2 in a dispute over outsourcing with the testers union IMPACT saying that the RSA has reneged on a recommendation to hire reserve testers.
IMPACT says that RSA management plans to outsource testing is in breach of a Labour Court ruling that recommended the recruitment of a reserve body of qualified testers.
IMPACT official Dennis Rohan said that the outsourcing proposals could also breach the RSA's own safety standards, as it was not insisting that subcontractors hold the HETAC driver-tester qualification, a requirement for all RSA testers.
For its part the RSA says it is in compliance "with numerous recommendations and rulings by the LRC".
"The RSA has established a panel of five reserve Driver Testers to assist in reducing the impact of short-notice sick leave absences on customers and to continue to deliver a high quality service.
"In 2012, 11,880 driving tests were not conducted due to sick leave taken by driver testers. 8,200 of these tests were not covered from spare capacity and as a result, the RSA had to reschedule the affected candidates' tests, free of charge at a cost of €697,000 to the authority. This is obviously in addition to the massive inconvenience caused to our customers as a result of having their tests cancelled, often at short notice."
Anything else?
The RSA says customers who are due to take their test that day are being notified of the disruption and plans are in place to reschedule their tests, at no cost, as quickly as possible at times that are convenient for them.