Driving test centres will not be reopened early, according to Minister for Transport Shane Ross.
Minister for Transport Shane Ross has said that reopening driving test centres early is not an option, due to the inevitable breach of social distancing guidelines.
As it stands, driving test centres will not be reopened until Phase 5 at the very earliest (10 August).
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, he said: “It is very difficult to see a situation where driving tests will be introduced early because of the difficulties in people sitting beside each other.
“There is no way, in the average car, that you would have two people together without breaching social distancing guidelines.
“I don’t intend to allow a breach of that. There are sacrifices that we all have to make, and discomforts that we all have to endure.”
Ross also said that he had sympathy with provisionally licenced drivers who needed to drive for work, but that allowing them to drive without a fully licenced driver is also not an option.
“That’s a safety issue and it would be irresponsible for me to allow people who are on a provisional, and who haven’t satisfied the requirements, to get a full licence to go on the road. I’m not going to do that.
“I am going to continue the rules as they are at the moment so that lives can be saved.”
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