John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

A road haulage operator's licence is granted under section 2 of the Road Traffic and Transport Act 2006 and entitles the holder to carry on a road haulage business for hire or reward. Further statutory regulations govern various details regarding the application process. An international licence enables the holder to carry goods for hire and reward throughout Ireland and the European Union.

The core criteria for the grant of a road haulage operator's licence are contained in the European Communities (Merchandise Road Transport) Regulations 1991. These state that the applicant must satisfy the criteria of sound financial standing, good repute, and professional competence. Regulation 7 of these regulations sets down how the considerations to be taken into account when determining whether an applicant for a road haulage licence is of "good repute". These regulations also have a list of "relevant offences" outlined in the first schedule that are to be taken into account when deciding whether an applicant satisfies the requirements on good repute.

An application was received from the individual in question for an international road haulage operator's licence on 12 May 2008. The applicant indicated that he had one conviction on 15 February 2006 under section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act for an offence committed on 2 December 2003, for which he was sentenced to five years imprisonment with the last two years suspended. Section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 relates to the possession of controlled drugs for unlawful sale or supply. On inspection of all the accompanying documentation, all other aspects of the application, including accounts relating to financial standing, tax clearance certificate and accompanying documents and affidavits, were found to be in order.

When determining an application for a road haulage operator licence, regard shall be taken as to whether the applicant has relevant convictions in the immediate five year period preceding the application. On foot of the applicant's self declaration of his conviction in his application form, the Garda was requested to undertake a good repute check on 12 May 2008 on this individual. In addition, further clarification was sought from the Garda in June and again in July and August 2008 on foot of the responses received from them. On 30 July 2008, the Garda advised that no evidence was given at his trial that the applicant's haulage company was involved in the commission of the offences for which he was convicted, and that he had not come under notice for breaches of road transport legislation.

Arising from some press reports in August about the applicant, it was unclear to the Department whether there were other charges pending or if some charges previously mentioned had been struck out. Accordingly, the officials wrote again to the Garda Síochána in August asking it to indicate the Garda's view about the applicant's good repute and his suitability to be granted a licence.

In the response received at the end of August, the Garda indicated that the applicant had been charged with breaches of sections 3, 15, 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 in the Circuit Criminal Court 29 on 15 February 2006. The judge sentenced him to five years' imprisonment on each charge backdated to 20 September 2005, with sentences to run concurrently. The response also said that the judge suspended the final two years of the sentence on condition that the individual in question entered a bond to keep the peace for a period of two years from the date of his release. The Garda made no comment on whether it regarded the applicant to be a person of good repute or not.

Following consideration of all the issues involved, a decision was then made by officials in the Department to grant the licence on the basis that there were insufficient grounds to refuse it and the Garda had not made any comment on the question of good repute. The decision took into account the criteria outlined in the regulations and the Garda responses to requests in that regard, as well as the wider issues surrounding the applicant's constitutional right to earn a livelihood, a right that could not be taken away lightly. The fact that the applicant had already served his sentence for the conviction on record, and that he had no further convictions since then, was also taken into account. In addition, the Garda had confirmed on 30 July 2008 that it had not taken prosecutions against the applicant related to his livelihood as a professional road transport operator.

Accordingly, the applicant was granted his international road haulage operator's licence on 4 September 2008. The licence is valid for five years.

The House will be aware that there has been some other media publicity in recent days concerning the individual in question. Those matters are the subject of a separate reviews by the appropriate authorities, including the Garda Ombudsman Commission. I should, however, add that the Minister for Transport is reviewing the legislation and criteria in this area, because the legal and constitutional issues in this area have proven to be difficult and complex and also arise in other licensing areas, such as taxi driver licensing. Also, in some cases the deciding authority is the relevant Department, Minister or other licensing authority while in other cases it is the Garda, for example in the case of taxi driving licences or intoxicating liquor licences.

Issues around the criteria for establishing good repute here have also arisen in other member states. The European Union is in the process of updating and consolidating the existing European legislation governing this area and this is nearing completion. This includes provisions regarding the establishment of an EU wide network of electronic databases which will include conviction information on every licensed operator. Member states will have clear rules allowing them to take convictions in other EU member states into account. The European Commission will be tasked with an examination of what constitutes relevant convictions and what weight will be apportioned to different types of convictions when deciding to award or revoke licences. When these new EU regulations are finalised, the appropriate legislation to implement them will be introduced.

The Minister for Transport is currently in the process of reviewing all aspects of the decision to award this licence to the individual in question. He has already received a preliminary report on this matter and a full report is being prepared for him. The Minister has referred this matter to the Attorney General for advice regarding the legal issues involved. In the circumstances, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment on this matter at this moment in time.

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