Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Under the terms of the Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, became the national driver licensing authority as of January this year. With effect from 19 January, the new credit card-style plastic card driving licence was introduced in all EU member states, replacing existing paper licences. Between 19 January and 25 October, local authorities continued to provide customer services relating to driving licences on behalf of the RSA. On 29 October last, the RSA assumed full responsibility for the service. The RSA designed the new centralised driver licensing system around a central unit within the authority in Ballina and three outsourced contracts. The contracts include one for a front-office service which engages with the public, a second for a back-office service to process applications, and a third for the production of the plastic card licence. These contracts were awarded by the RSA following competitive procurement processes in which neither my Department nor I had any direct role.

Under the front-office contract, provided by SGS Ireland on behalf of the National Driver Licence Service, customer services are offered at 34 full-time centres and two part-time centres around the country. They are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. They remain open through lunchtime. This is a considerable improvement as the new opening hours are longer and more flexible than when the service was provided by the local authorities. Furthermore, people will be able to use any of the offices to apply for or renew their licence rather than having to attend at their own local authority office, as was the case previously. The new network provides services to 95% of the population within a 50 km radius.

The requirement to attend in person only occurs once, namely, when the person receives his first credit-card-style driver licence under this new system. On that occasion, the person’s image is captured through the SAFE 2 system and they have their identity verified in person. This is an important measure to prevent fraud. After attending once in person, people can renew their licence through the postal system and are not required to attend the centres in person again, when their licence needs to be renewed or updated.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Under the new regime, there is a target to process driver licence applications within eight days. I understand that there were some teething issues with the launch of the new national driver licensing service on Tuesday, 29 October, that the RSA informs me have now been resolved.  

There has been a high level of demand for the service since it opened. The RSA has advised me that a number of solutions have been put in place to address the earlier difficulties experienced. These include the assignment of additional staff, the rolling out of a further information campaign and the deployment of a manual booking system which applicants can avail of.

As I stated earlier in the week in response to a Topical Issue query on this subject, the move to a centralised driver licensing service is the right one in the longer term, and it will provide a better service to the public in addition to greater security and better value for money. While there have been teething troubles in the new system, I am satisfied that these are being dealt with quickly and effectively by the RSA.

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