Seventy per cent of people who took the first Irish Driver Theory Test yesterday passed.
According to Ms Jane Kinsley, spokeswoman for British company Prometric Thomson Learning - operators of the test - the company is very pleased with the outcome of the first day's testing.
Prometric Thomson Learning has a 55 per cent pass rate in the UK.
Eighty-eight of an expected 110 applicants sat the computerised test yesterday in test centres around the country. Forty-one centres have been set up around the country so that 98 per cent of the population will be within 30 miles of one.
The theory test, introduced by the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Robert Molloy last April to combat road deaths, has now become a mandatory part of the driving license application.
In order to get a provisional license all applicants must pass the test on the rules of the road, answering 35 out of 40 questions within 45 minutes.
According to two successful applicants from yesterday, the theory test is "fair", "well organised" and based rigidly on the practice book which is available in bookshops for £12.99.
The test costs £25.20 every time it is taken.