Nenagh has lowest driving test pass rate
Nenagh is home to the lowest driving test pass rate in the country, with just 39.5% of drivers passing at the local RSA test centre.
Despite once having Ireland's highest pass rate, now less than four out of every 10 drivers make the grade in Nenagh. The next five lowest pass rates were all in Dublin.
New figures released to Newstalk under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the national pass rate in driving test centres last year was just over 53%. Loughrea in Co Galway had the country's highest pass rate of 74.7%.
That status belonged to Nenagh in 2008, when the 69.1% pass rate at the local RSA test centre was the best in the country. The privately-operated SGS test centre at Lisboney achieved an even higher pass rate of 77% in the same year. The private centre was set up on a temporary basis to help clear a chronic waiting list backlog in Nenagh, where the average waiting time for a driving test in 2006 was 69 weeks.
While the pass rate declined in subsequent years, Nenagh was until recently home to predominantly positive results on a consistent basis.
Speaking on Newstalk, road test editor with CompleteCar.ie Dave Humphreys made the point that rural test centres tend to see better results, as there are generally fewer people taking the test and the roads tend to be less busy. Tests in larger population centres like Dublin may be more difficult due to higher traffic volumes.
But Nenagh was worse than five Dublin centres - Finglas (42.43%), Charlestown (42.72%), Mulhuddart (44.37%), Raheny (45.16%) and a second Mulhuddart centre (45.61%) - with its low pass rate.
The RSA was invited to comment on the situation specific to Nenagh.
In a statement, the RSA said the driving test pass rate in Nenagh for 2022 so far is 48% and is higher than several other test centres across the country. It is lower than the average national pass rate of 53%.
The RSA has a comprehensive Quality Assurance procedure that ensures that the work of each driver tester is monitored and supervised.