The private testers will operate from 11 centres around the country, including four in Dublin. SGS, the company which won the contract to conduct the private driving tests, issued appointment letters last month.

The company will conduct 40,000 driving tests over the next 18 months, with the option of undertaking a further 5,000 tests. Transport minister Martin Cullen has declined to say how much the contract is worth, on the grounds that this information is commercially sensitive.

The government has also increased overtime and redeployed four civil servants from the Department of Agriculture as testers, as well as recruiting 11 new testers on two-year contracts. "I expect to see a marked reduction in the waiting list by the end of this year, " Cullen said.

The transport minister predicted that by mid-2007 the waiting list for driver tests will be no more than 50,000 with a 10 to 12 week waiting period for test appointments. However, Labour party transport spokeswoman Roisin Shortall said the target will not be met. "There will be an immediate once-off improvement but what the minister hasn't included in his figures are the 270,000 people who are driving on provisional licenses.

He's proposing to end the arrangement whereby these people can drive alone so that will lead to a massive surge in applications for tests, " she said.