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Transport Omnibus 2021

Driver and Vehicle Testing

There were 142,320 driving tests conducted in 2021

Online ISSN: 2009-5643

CSO statistical release, 30 November 2022, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

This publication has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this publication reflect some of the impacts of the COVID-19 situation.

Main results

A total of 3,257,621 Irish driving licences were held at the end of 2021, of which less than ten percent (9%) were learner permit licences. See table 2.6.
In 2021, 201,915 tests were conducted by the driver theory testing service, with a pass rate of 74%. See table 2.2.
In 2021, 1,418,114 cars underwent the National Car Test (NCT). Nearly half (47%) of those cars failed the initial test, but 96% passed after one or more tests. See table 2.5.

Compared with 2020, the number of driving tests conducted in 2021 increased by 63%. See table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Driving test statistics, 2016 - 2021
					Number and rate
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Number of applications received	166,149	173,054	169,237	201,987	153,357	167,617
Driving tests conducted	114,399	125,867	136,316	186,379	87,580	142,320
Applicant did not attend for appointment	21,536	19,183	15,523	24,472	8,925	3,303
Number on waiting list at end of year	31,549	40,010	31,749	7,738	53,204	66,052
Average waiting time at end of year for invite to be issued to customer¹	..	..	..	..	..	7.9 wks

Average pass rate	53.7%	52.9%	52.5%	53.9%	55.0%	55.2%
Number of testers employed at end of year	92.4	103.4	137.2	145	136	164
Source: Road Safety Authority
¹ Data prior to 2021 is not comparable

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2021 Table 2.1 (XLS 11KB)

There were 142,320 driving tests conducted in 2021 with an average pass rate of 55%. The average pass rate for men was 57% and 53% for women. The average pass rate for the category "no gender recorded" was 53%.

Table 2.5 National car test results by test centre for year ending 31/12/2021

Table 2.5 National car test results by test centre for year ending 31/12/2021
Test centre	Pass	Fail	Pass	Fail	Total	Total
Test centre	(initial test)	(initial test)	(re-test)	(re-test)	passes	tests
Abbeyfeale	9,288	6,638	6,227	558	15,515	15,926
Arklow	15,606	13,631	12,159	1,222	27,765	29,237
Athlone	10,761	8,871	8,136	647	18,897	19,632
Ballina	8,510	9,365	8,678	701	17,188	17,875
Ballinasloe	8,686	6,203	6,242	479	14,928	14,889
Cahir	12,744	11,637	11,116	992	23,860	24,381
Cahirciveen	1,749	1,487	1,405	86	3,154	3,236
Carlow	10,234	14,413	12,659	1,269	22,893	24,647
Carndonagh	3,858	3,855	3,511	312	7,369	7,713
Carrick-on-Shannon	6,269	7,888	6,986	631	13,255	14,157
Castlerea	5,320	8,636	7,232	917	12,552	13,956
Cavan	6,351	9,109	7,958	1,113	14,309	15,460
Charleville	9,787	7,348	7,118	531	16,905	17,135
Clifden	2,329	2,961	2,693	203	5,022	5,290
Cork-Blarney	28,854	22,391	19,071	1,616	47,925	51,245
Cork-Little Island	35,917	25,200	25,253	1,794	61,170	61,117
Deansgrange	54,543	37,270	36,547	3,200	91,090	91,813
Derrybeg	2,317	2,885	2,739	150	5,056	5,202
Donegal	6,599	6,119	5,558	432	12,157	12,718
Drogheda	19,283	17,220	15,814	1,472	35,097	36,503
Dundalk	9,812	9,309	8,974	875	18,786	19,121
Ennis	16,239	15,261	14,484	1,314	30,723	31,500
Enniscorthy	19,528	21,543	18,940	1,860	38,468	41,071
Fonthill	39,644	43,037	37,528	4,134	77,172	82,681
Galway	24,248	23,745	21,859	2,186	46,107	47,993
Greenhills	32,128	30,507	30,964	3,111	63,092	62,635
Kells	15,263	13,388	12,243	1,351	27,506	28,651
Kilkenny	18,232	12,878	11,706	861	29,938	31,110
Killarney	11,767	8,883	8,371	552	20,138	20,650
Letterkenny	9,460	9,849	9,959	834	19,419	19,309
Limerick	28,201	24,174	22,266	1,860	50,467	52,375
Longford	6,258	6,604	6,512	671	12,770	12,862
Macroom	8,851	7,078	6,597	464	15,448	15,929
Monaghan	6,781	8,032	7,187	938	13,968	14,813
Mullingar	11,278	9,478	9,032	689	20,310	20,756
Naas	29,264	26,055	20,935	1,998	50,199	55,319
Navan	5,186	4,772	3,551	345	8,737	9,958
Nenagh	13,234	10,814	9,925	817	23,159	24,048
Northpoint 1	26,711	28,314	27,608	3,194	54,319	55,025
Northpoint 2	41,904	39,636	37,540	3,561	79,444	81,540
Portlaoise	18,401	12,147	10,773	776	29,174	30,548
Skibbereen	9,086	8,649	8,133	637	17,219	17,735
Sligo	10,422	10,817	9,649	784	20,071	21,239
Tralee	13,314	10,175	9,557	693	22,871	23,489
Tuam	5,510	5,844	4,963	527	10,473	11,354
Tullamore	14,177	10,449	9,271	674	23,448	24,626
Waterford	24,357	17,952	15,988	1,329	40,345	42,309
Westport	11,359	10,029	9,238	754	20,597	21,388
Youghal	8,569	7,379	6,741	527	15,310	15,948
Total	748,189	669,925	617,596	56,641	1,365,785	1,418,114
Source: Road Safety Authority

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2021 Table 2.5 (XLS 13KB)

Table 2.6 Number of current driving licences by type and licensing authority at 31/12/2021

Additional data

More detailed statistics on Driver and Vehicle Testing can be found under “Data”.

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Table 2.6 Number of current driving licences by type and licensing authority at 31/12/2021
Licensing authority	Learner permit licences	Annual licences	Triennial licences	10 year licences	Total number of driving licences
Carlow	4,498	97	4,636	34,727	43,958
Cavan	4,689	135	6,000	44,141	54,965
Clare	6,853	276	11,070	70,238	88,437
Cork	32,326	792	44,286	302,387	379,791
Donegal	9,021	372	13,964	90,944	114,301
Dublin	90,369	1,836	86,662	627,289	806,156
Galway	15,351	326	20,471	146,444	182,592
Kerry	8,251	214	14,499	86,702	109,666
Kildare	15,459	257	14,479	127,861	158,056
Kilkenny	5,902	177	7,947	53,927	67,953
Laois	5,621	149	5,522	43,506	54,798
Leitrim	1,890	105	3,251	19,772	25,018
Limerick	11,883	410	16,006	106,643	134,942
Longford	2,777	76	3,577	22,525	28,955
Louth	8,600	189	9,033	68,978	86,800
Mayo	7,487	227	13,196	78,253	99,163
Meath	12,698	283	13,511	113,696	140,188
Monaghan	3,178	130	5,221	37,342	45,871
Offaly	4,949	197	5,943	43,572	54,661
Roscommon	3,750	158	6,463	38,509	48,880
Sligo	3,825	133	6,502	37,755	48,215
Tipperary	10,638	413	14,823	93,165	119,039
Waterford	8,171	238	9,949	65,683	84,041
Westmeath	6,275	148	6,905	51,893	65,221
Wexford	10,242	479	13,742	88,323	112,786
Wicklow	9,362	280	11,949	81,577	103,168
Total	304,065	8,097	369,607	2,575,852	3,257,621
Source: Road Safety Authority

Transport Omnibus 2021

Driver and Vehicle Testing

Driver and Vehicle Testing

There were 142,320 driving tests conducted in 2021

COVID-19 Release Information

Main results

Additional data

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