Irish School of Motoring – ISM

A friend took driving lessons with ISM and while I don’t presume to speak for him I can tell you my opinion from an outsider looking in and as someone who passed her test in recent years.
It’s often hard to tell who is at fault when driving lessons don’t really go well and the pupil doesn’t make progress. Is it the instructor or is it the pupil? To my mind a good instructor shouldn’t have any issues regardless of level, age or experience and should know how to put a very nervous driver at ease. After 12 lessons my friend could not reverse, didn’t know how to «feed the wheel» and after one pre-​test lesson was told his road position was not good, he oversteered and various other things that make up basic driving.
When I queried this with the instructor while collecting my friend, I was told that the 12 lessons are not geared towards passing the test. This seems odd to me considering that’s really the end goal and my own lessons (with a different school) were structured in that way so that my pre-​test lessons were focused mostly on the manoeuvres and perfecting all the other stuff.
The instructor also took a very long time to confirm with the RSA that my friend had indeed taken 12 lessons (for some reason they had him listed as 11). This delayed him taking the test by almost two months. The instructor did however provide a free pre-​test as an apology.
My friend has since gotten a new instructor and is amazed at the difference in his driving.

It’s difficult to rate ISM, because I can’t compare it to other driving schools. But here’s my opinion on how I was looked after here.
I have used only training ground area as I was getting my IBT done (motorcycle A license).
Let’s start from instructor. John is his name. He’s gas, I’m telling you. Loads of fun, knows a lot of stuff (regarding motorbikes, safety and road rules). Instructor was reasonable, and if you do something not perfectly, he’ll try to make you do it until you get it right. If you already know or have experience, he will recognize that and won’t waste time practicing something that you are already good at and proved it to him.
Training ground is not as big as I’d like, but it does the job. You wouldn’t go into the third gear (with motorbike) there.
Office is a little hut with toilet and kitchen, if you need. It is well heated, was never cold.
One strong point for IBT course — cheapest price without discount I managed to find in Dublin (€ 475, modules 1, 3 & 5).
Got to ride two different bikes: Kawasaki ER-​5 and Suzuki Bandit (63 kw, 2013). Great experience. Good bikes.
Protective clothes they provide are okay. Not new anymore, but does the job. There’re different sizes of clothes and helmets to fit you right.