Demand for new Driving Test Centre for County Roscommon Seamus Duke Fine Gael Deputy Denis Naughten has called for a new Driving Test Centre to be provided in Roscommon Town following news this week that a second (temporary) test centre is being provided in the town (at Hannon’s Hotel) in addition to the normal Circular Road base in order to clear the backlog of tests. ‘I welcome wholeheartedly the move at Hannon’s Hotel to clear the backlog of tests but a new permanent driving test centre is needed badly in Roscommon town as a matter of extreme urgency’ Deputy Naughten said yesterday (Wednesday). Deputy Naughten says that the existing test centre in the Circular Road in Roscommon town has no proper facilities for staff or the public and that a new centre is needed immediately. ‘I have received information today that shows our centre on the Circular Road has no toilet facilities for the public which is just not good enough in this day and age’ he said. Regional Centre ‘Imagine driving all the way to Roscommon Town from somewhere like Loughglynn to do a driving test and finding that there are no toilet facilities at the test centre. People are nervous enough but to think that there are no toilet facilities there, it’s a disgrace. There are people who wish to use the toilets while at the test centre but they have to go up to the County Library or to the Abbey Hotel. It’s just not on’ he said. ‘There is another aspect to all this now too and that is the development of the proposed new Youth Centre on the Circular Road. It would be totally unsuitable to have a driving test centre next door to where there are crowds of young people gathering. It would not be safe for the young people involved to have inexperienced drivers in the area every day of the week and it would not be fair to the drivers themselves’ he said. ‘I was of the understanding that there would be a new test centre in the government offices (Convent Road) but that doesn’t seem to be happening. What we need now is a major centre to be developed on a greenfield site. Why not develop a regional test centre while they are at it? Roscommon would be an ideal location’ he said. ‘I’m glad that the backlog is being dealt with but the long-term situation is less than satisfactory and I will be keeping up the pressure in that regard’ he said, adding that there is a significant amount of vacant retail space in the town that could also be considered as a location for a new centre.
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