A woman waiting up to nine months to take her driving test has said she expects the date to be moved again.

Robyn told Lunchtime Live she drives to work every day, but needs to have her parents in the car with her.

She said has done everything else, and is simply waiting to sit the exam.

"At the minute it looks like I'll be about eight or nine months until I can do my test," she said.

"I've done everything: I've paid for the test, I've got my provisional licence, I've done all my lessons."

She said she is waiting on confirmation from her test centre.

"I'm going to get an e-mail on the 31st of July, if that doesn't get pushed back again, to book a date.

"So three to five weeks after the 31st of July, I could be doing my test.

"It's already moved two weeks since the original timeline... so it's moved about three or four times.

"I imagine that's going to move again - so about nine months wait".

'I drive to work every morning'

Robyn said there is a lot of wasted time.

"I drive to work every morning, but obviously I have to have a fully licenced driver so one of my parents will be in the car with me," she said.

"I drive to work, they take the car, it stays in the driveway until the end of the day, and then I get picked up or I drive home.

"I'm trying to practice my driving while also obviously having a fully licenced driver with me.

"There's a majority of the day when the car's not in use - it's fully insured but I can't drive it without someone with me.

"It's wasted because I don't want to risk driving without a fully licenced driver."

'I'm going to have to wait'

She said the area where she lives seems to have a big backlog, but she is reluctant to sit the test elsewhere.

"If I was to apply somewhere else, even Dublin-based, they would be areas that I wouldn't be regularly driving.

"I would have to spend more money on petrol so that I could drive around the areas and know the areas.

"So I'd have to practice somewhere else, and ideally I'd probably have to have at least one or two lessons in and around that area.

"Either way I'm going to have to wait".

A man driving a car. Picture by: Dunca Daniel Mihai / Alamy Stock Photo

The Road Safety Authority has said the national average wait time to take the test is 19 weeks.

Robyn said this is simply not the case.

"If I was to book the same test centre that I'm currently in today, it says October is the wait time," she said.

"It all depends, I guess for them, on how quickly they can get through the list.

"I may well get an e-mail before July or August, and I hope that's the case," she added.

Main image: A driver taking a driving test. Picture by: Hongqi Zhang / Alamy Stock Photo