The average waiting time is now 43.3 weeks and despite the rising backlog, 16,000 less tests were carried out last year.

In May last year, transport minister Martin Cullen promised that average driving test waiting times would be cut from an average of 10 months to less than 10 weeks.

But with some drivers waiting over 60 weeks for a test, Conor Faughnan of the AA believes an urgent overhaul of the system should be high on the government's agenda.

"One driver in five has technical learner status and that is just farcical. Because of those numbers it means the laws that govern learner drivers are practically impossible to enforce and because they aren't enforced, they are not abided. It is ridiculous, " he said.

There are currently 410,602 unqualified drivers on Irish roads and almost 30,000 of these have been driving unqualified for 10 years and are on their fifth, or above, provisional licence.