'Mess' - nearly 7,000 on L plates in Laois

The number of Laois people on L plates has risen to nearly 7,000 according to figures provided to Ireland's road haulage association, which has hit out at the State agency responsible for managing the driving test system.

New figures released by the Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA) to the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) reveal that there were about 13,000 learner drivers on the roads of Laois and Offaly. The figures show that 6,922 were on L-plates in Laois, while Offaly had 6,171. 

An IHRA statement issued to the Leinster Express / Laois Live said that most learner license drivers in Laois are aged between 17-20 (1,841 drivers) and 30 and 39 (1,460).

There were eight learner permit holders in Laois aged of 80 while 42 learner permit holders are between 70 and 79 years old in the county, according to figures provided by the RSA.

Nationally, there are 394,128 learner drivers on Ireland’s roads with over 12,000 more learner driver permits in six months. An additional 222 drivers went on L plates in Laois during that period.

The IRHA President is Ger Hyland, who runs a company in Rosenallis. He said the levels of inexperienced drivers on our roads “beggars belief” at a time when millions of taxpayers' euros are being pumped into the RSA to clear the backlog of driver testing across all licence categories.

The Laois man warned that the surge in learner drivers on our roads poses a direct threat to Irish road safety. MORE BELOW FULL TABLE.

“To have 394,128 inexperienced drivers on our roads is a testament to the failure of the Road Safety Authority and their mismanagement of our driver testing system. It is a mess and not getting any better,” he said.

He also pointed to Garda figures, which show that 2,754 fixed charge notices were issued nationally by Gardaí in the first three months of 2025 to learner drivers caught driving without a fully licensed driver. That is an increase of 9.5% on the same period in 2024.

He also claimed roads have become dangerous places for truckers and accused the RSA of not getting a handle on what is a crisis for Irish road safety.

He asked: “How are we supposed to accept that around 10% of Ireland’s driving public are on some kind of learner permit?"

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"We have been asking questions of the RSA for the past 12 months on behalf of our members and the driving public. The RSA have ducked, dived and dodged accountability and transparency, and it is high time that Minister Sean Canney called them to task,” he said.

In response, the RSA said it delivered on the commitments set out in its Driving Test Action Plan by reducing waiting times to a 10-week average and increasing capacity across the national driver testing service.

"The RSA has achieved sustained improvements in waiting times, supported by the extraordinary efforts of driver testers, administrative, call centre and training staff, as well as newly recruited testers who have strengthened the service," it said.

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As the statement added that work continues, and in October, the RSA conducted 28,198 tests, over 7,000 more than in May, at the start of the Driving Test Action Plan.

It said applications remain at record levels, with 104,926 driving test applications received between July and October 2025.

The RSA also said it welcomed the new regulations signed by the Minister for Transport to address repeated learner-permit renewals.

It said the changes, which take effect from 1 November 2026, will ensure that learner permits continue to serve their intended purpose — to help people learn to drive safely, build real experience behind the wheel, and develop the skills needed to pass the driving test.