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26 Mar 2026
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26 Mar 2026
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The Road Safety Authority(RSA) was slammed as ‘incompetent’ for issuing incorrect Freedom of Information figures to the Irish Road Hauliers Association.
The Irish Road Hauliers Association(IRHA), which is headed up by Laois man Ger Hyland, issued a statement in relation to driving licence figures which they had secured under Freedom of Information from the RSA.
The RSA had wrongly issued the figures stating that there were 15,055 provisional drivers in Laois. These figures then appeared in a statement issued by the IRHA to media organisations.
When contacted by the Leinster Express/Laois Live, the RSA stated that the numbers quoted by the IRHA were incorrect.
“As you will see, the figure is 378,652, not 842,260. We will be writing to the original FOI requestor informing her of the error and providing the correct information,” a spokesperson for the RSA had said.
They said the true figure for Laois is 6,657 and not 15,055 as quoted by the IRHA.
A spokesperson for the IRHA said “If the RSA are disputing the figures, they are disputing their own figures provided to us on April 15th! More examples of the RSA's incompetence! The RSA are trying to undermine their own figures.”
President of the IRHA, Laois man Ger Hyland, has called for a root and branch review of the Road Safety Authority and their operation of the Irish driving test system.
The IRHA said the figures coincide with recently released figures by the Gardaí which show a dramatic increase in some counties in the numbers of learner drivers caught driving unaccompanied. See table below.
The IRHA claimed that an inadequate and backlogged testing regime is forcing young learner drivers out on our roads without a full licence or a supervising driver. The IRHA said they are concerned for the safety of their drivers who are coming across inexperienced drivers on a daily basis on Irish roads.
According to Hyland, this is having a knock on impact on housing because “young apprentice trades people cannot get to work independently, on families because their children cannot drive to college and on business because learner drivers cannot get to work and are waiting over six months or longer for a driving test.”
He would like to see driver education introduced in secondary schools.
Paddy Fitzpatrick kicks a score for the Laois U-20 footballers on Wednesday evening.
One of the cars that was searched during the operation
Peader's Bar, Mary Street, Durrow.
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