The 345,000 existing holders of provisional driving licences will not have to undertake the new driver theory test.
The new Driver Theory Testing Service was announced yesterday by the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Molloy. He said that anyone who applied for a first provisional licence on or after today would have to take the computerised test.
The test will be conducted at 41 locations throughout the State - 16 permanent centres and 25 locations serviced by mobile units. All centres will cater for the disabled.
Mr Molloy said the test, to be offered in Irish and English and costing £25.20, would be based on a bank of 743 questions developed by his department. It would be published by the service in book and CD formats.
"While I understand that the test will not be unduly difficult, test applicants, if they wish to be successful, will need to study the question bank in advance of doing the test," he said.
The service is due to start on June 11th. After that date, applicants for a first provisional licence will have to pass the theory test and obtain a certificate before a licence is granted.
In the interim, people who apply for first provisional licences between April 25th and June 10th will have the validity period of their licences limited to 90 days, and will only be granted the balance of the normal period of two years when the test has been passed.
In relation to the granting of full driving licences, people who, in the period from April 25th to June 10th, apply for a provisional licence and pass the practical test must also pass the theory test before they can obtain a full driving licence.
The Minister said there would be three classes of test: one would cover the entry level licence categories for motorcycles, cars, mopeds, tractors and work vehicles, and the other two would be for heavy goods vehicles and buses.
Candidates with special needs will be accommodated in a variety of ways. These include the use of sign language, voice-over audio support, and reading assistance.
Mr Molloy said the new service was another significant step in implementing the Government strategy for road safety. The strategy identified safer driver behaviour as the principal means of improving Ireland's road-safety performance.
The Minister yesterday signed the contract for the service with Prometric Thomson Learning, a US-based company, which has run the UK test since January 2000. The Minister said the new service would be operated as a public private partnership on a procurement basis similar to that followed for the National Car Test.
The total initial investment of the project is £3 million and the service will generate 70 jobs initially. The contract is for seven years and a separate company, Prometric Ireland Ltd, has been established to operate the service.