Walk the drive after rain and note: - Puddles. On estate drives in Sligo town, a sunken strip often follows an old service trench. - Cracks. A single line is one thing. A net of cracks usually means the base has moved. - Loose stone on resin. If it's shedding across the whole bay, it's tired. If it's one patch, a cut-out repair may work, provided the contractor can match the stone. - Your heel. If it sinks, a new top won't hold. A new top layer on tarmac works when the base is firm. A slurry over a moving base looks fine in August and fails by March. Take three photos: wet day, dry day, and the worst crack with a coin beside it. Add the year the drive was last done if you know it. Mark any trench dug in the last couple of years. Ask the contractor for one plain sentence: repair or dig out. Pick a surface after that, not before.
The deciding question is whether the base has moved. If it has, a repair is money spent twice.
Photos wet and dry, a coin for scale on the worst crack, and the year it was laid.
Freeze-thaw inland and wind-blown sand on the coast both widen cracks, so the earlier someone looks, the smaller the job.