Pass rates at test centres run by private firm SGS are significantly higher than among those examined at Road Safety Authority test centres, according to data seen by The Irish Times. Of almost 40,000 tests carried out by SGS so far this year, the average pass rate was 62 per cent, compared with an average of 52 per cent among candidates at RSA centres.
At the SGS centre in Kells, the pass rate is 69 per cent; at Fonthill it is 66 per cent; at Naas 64 per cent; in Deansgrange 60 per cent passed; in Drogheda it is 58 per cent and at City West the pass rate is 52 per cent. These centres have been operating for approximately 12 months.
However, in some recently opened SGS centres, the pass rate is far higher. Some 84 per cent of the 336 drivers tested at Cahir passed their test, 81 per cent of candidates in Nenagh were successful and 78 per cent of the candidates at Charleville passed. Applicants in the west saw the lowest pass rates, with candidates at the new SGS centres at Westport and Sligo both recording a 48 pass rate.
An RSA spokesman said that to compare RSA and SGS pass rates was not comparing "like with like" because the number of drivers tested by SGS to date was relatively small.
SGS recently opened around 30 new testing centres in the State after it won a second contract to provide a minimum of 100,000 more driving tests. During its first contract to provide 45,000 tests, the SGS pass rate was only slightly higher, at 57 per cent, than the RSA average.
Irregular pass rates are a feature of the State's driver testing service. Last June, the Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell published a report on the driver testing service, where he noted that either there was a severe regional difference in driving standards, or there was a difference in the standard of the tests being conducted in different RSA centres. While the average pass rate in the RSA test centres last year was 52 per cent, it ranged from a low of 42 per cent in Co Carlow to a high of 65 per cent in Buncrana, Co Donegal.
According to an RSA spokesman, a range of factors contribute to higher pass rates, including the availability of quality tuition, the preparedness of candidates, complexity of routes and weather conditions.
An SGS spokeswoman said that SGS receives candidates from the RSA who have been on the waiting list the longest, and these are among the most keen for a test.
Last week, The Irish Timesreported that a driving instructor had written to the RSA outlining concern at what he felt was a relatively high pass rate in SGS driving test centres serving the Co Wicklow and Co Wexford areas. The Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey is under pressure to reduce the waiting list for a driving test to 10 weeks or less by next March and to ensure that all holders of a second provisional licence have access to a test by June 30th.
