Huge number of learner drivers on the road in Wexford

New figures released from the Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA) have revealed a huge number of learnere drivers on Wexford roads….

New figures have revealed that there are 394,128 learner permit holders now on our roads in Ireland at the end of September 2025.

Of that, 12,456 of them are in Wexford.

That is an increase of 12,257 learner drivers nationally on our roads since March of this year, just six months ago. The extraordinary number of learner drivers on Irish roads comes at a time when road deaths are spiralling.

As of November 20th, 2025, Garda figures show that 158 people had lost their lives on Irish roads, 9 more deaths than on the same day in 2024.

Most learner permit holders in Wexford are aged between 17-20 (3,239 drivers) and 30 and 39 (2,634). 18 learner permit holders in Wexford are over the age of 80 while 88 learner permit holders are between 70 and 79 years old in Wexford according to figures provided by the RSA. (Full figures for Wexford on request)

Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) President Ger Hyland 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 a chronic backlog of driver testing across all licence categories”

Hyland warned that the surge in learner drivers on our roads poses a direct threat to Irish road safety,

“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, despite all the creative accounting that the RSA are doing with driver testing figures”

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

Hyland said that our roads have become dangerous places for his members and accused the RSA of not getting a handle on what is a crisis for Irish road safety.

Hyland called on media to robustly interrogate the real story behind the vast numbers of Irish people waiting for car, truck and bus driving tests. Hyland said that the IRHA no longer has confidence in the data provided by the RSA,

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

County	Learner Permit holders March 31st 2025	Learner Permit holders September 30th 2025	Increase in 6 months

Carlow	5,147	5,524	377
Cavan	5,591	5,799	208
Clare	7,659	7,858	199
Cork	42,660	43,511	851
Donegal	9,872	9,949	77
Dublin	118,865	122,544	3,679
Galway	18,470	19,107	637
Kerry	10,348	10,979	631
Kildare	19,583	19,837	254
Kilkenny	6,865	7,022	157
Laois	6,700	6,922	222
Leitrim	2,281	2,328	47
Limerick	14,966	15,534	568
Longford	3,687	3,797	110
Louth	10,968	11,433	465
Mayo	8,763	9,289	526
Meath	15,772	16,057	285
Monaghan	3,643	3,768	125
Offaly	5,758	6,171	413
Roscommon	4,385	4,485	100
Sligo	4,574	4,687	113
Tipperary	12,709	13,010	301
Waterford	10,600	11,247	647
Westmeath	8,201	8,635	434
Wexford	11,909	12,456	547
Wicklow	11,895	12,179	284

Total	381,871	394,128	12,257

Source: RSA freedom of information. Learner permit holders across every county in Ireland

Further breakdown by age category available

According to Hyland,

“Over thirty organisations representing road safety, cycling, and pedestrian advocacy groups across Ireland issued a joint statement last year expressing a lack of confidence in the Irish Road Safety Authority. Similarly, the Irish Road Haulage Industry has indicated that it no longer holds confidence in the RSA nor the figures they continue to present around driver testing. It is therefore imperative that the Minister engage with the transport sector and take appropriate and decisive action to address our concerns.

The figures show that the largest cohort of learner drivers (96,130) are between the ages of 30- 39 indicating that drivers are leaving it late to undertake their driving test. 90,688 learner drivers were between 17-20. Surprisingly, 410 learner drivers nationally were over 80 years of age.