Driving testers balloted for industrial action

Driving testers at the Road Safety Authority, who are members of the Fórsa trade union, are being balloted for industrial action.

The union said its members have been put at risk due to the lack of an effective system to verify that vehicles presented for driving tests are fully insured.

According to Fórsa, the RSA has failed to ensure that driver testers are fully, and unconditionally, indemnified while carrying out their work.

The union said the absence of a proper insurance verification system, combined with inadequate indemnity protections, has left staff exposed and under pressure to proceed with tests in circumstances that would be unacceptable in any other area of public service.

"We're calling for urgent and concrete measures to remove this risk from individual workers, including guaranteed indemnity arrangements and access to the National Insurance Database," said Fórsa official Ruairí Creaney.

"Every car presented for a driving test must be properly insured."

"Without a reliable verification system, we risk sending testers out in cars that simply aren’t fit to be on the road."

"A car presented for a riving test must be fit to take to the road, and that includes being fully insured," he said.

The ballot of RSA driving testers opened today and concludes on Tuesday 6 January 2026.

The RSA has been contacted for comment.