A Carrickmacross driving instructor has shared her concerns over figures which reveal that the Road Safety Authority has cancelled around 50,000 driving tests in the last three and a half years.
So far this year, 5,000 tests have been cancelled.
Operational reasons was the most common excuse given for cancelling tests.
Claire McEneaney from Claire's School of Motoring is an RSA approved driving instructor based in Carrickmacross and Dundalk.
As a driving instructor, Claire says cancellations are hugely disruptive to students, driving instructors and ultimately road safety.
While some of the reasons behind cancellations are unavoidable like adverse weather conditions and sickness, Claire says it's up to the RSA to have plans in place to cover annual leave and to cover testers when they are out sick due to the negative impact that it has.
Speaking to Northern Sound, Claire believes students are the most impacted by these cancellations: "They're financially affected as they have taken time off work, school or college to come to their driving test just to find out that it's not going ahead.
"They might have paid for pre-test lessons in the weeks leading up to their test, parents have taken time off work to bring their children to the test as they can't come unaccompanied if they're driving their own car.
"Personally, I work very closely with my students in preparation for the test so we do mock tests and pre-test lessons which they would of paid for in the run up to it, so it's very stressful on the day of your test just to find out that it's not going ahead when you're all built up for it."
