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

I thank Deputy John O'Mahony for giving me the opportunity to address the issue of waiting times for the issuing of driving licences. The RSA developed the structure of the new national driver licensing service, NDLS, to consist of three outsourced elements overseen by a specialist unit based in the RSA headquarters in Ballina. The three outsourced contractors are a card producer for the plastic licence, a front office provider to engage with customers and a back office provider to process applications. The RSA held competitive procurement processes for each of these contracts.

In January of this year, the RSA took over in law as the sole driver licensing authority in Ireland. However, in order to allow the new contractors to complete their preparations, local authorities continued to provide customer services for driver licence applicants on behalf of the RSA during a transition period. The RSA assumed full responsibility for the service with effect from 29 October 2013. Early difficulties arose, mainly in the front office service provided by SGS Ireland Limited, under contract to the RSA. There are 34 full-time centres and two part-time centres nationally, and these open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. They also remain open through lunchtimes. These opening times are better and more convenient than the previous service. In addition, applicants can visit any centre, whereas under the previous system they had to go to their own local authorities. The new network provides service to 95% of the population within a 50 km radius.

There were some teething problems following the launch of the new service on Tuesday, 29 October. These included delays for customers in some NDLS centres, faults in the customer helpline on the first day and an IT problem in 12 of the centres on the morning of the first day. These initial problems were identified and addressed promptly by the RSA. However, the target of processing licences within eight days has not been met and there have been similar delays in processing some applications since the new service came on stream. Along with senior officials and advisers I met with the acting CEO of the RSA last week to discuss these issues and how the RSA plans to resolve them. I understand from the RSA that it currently processes an average of 1,800 licences through to card production on a daily basis. This is similar or greater to the volumes of licence applications being received. Backlogs that built up in the first few weeks of service are now being cleared. There is no doubt that the service suffered from a number of teething problems from its inception which contributed to delays. The current backlog of licences relates to approximately 14,500 licences applied for between the 2 November and 12 November.

Some of the front-end processing work was deferred because of the significant pressure the service faced at that time.

The RSA advises me that licences have been produced for 5,700 of those applications, while a further 8,800 are at various stages of processing. They expect to issue a further 5,000 licences this week.

I understand that there are some outstanding applications which will require further contact with customers to resolve problems or seek clarification on some aspect of the application. This work is ongoing, and the vast majority of these cases will be finalised before Christmas. Where no outstanding information is awaited from a customer, the RSA advises that all of the licences concerned will be issued by the end of the first week in January 2014.

The RSA has also informed me that it has advised the Garda of the delays. Meanwhile, the RSA has undertaken to add additional resources and further training to ensure that customers are dealt with speedily and that applications are being processed quickly. They have identified specific locations and areas for improvement, and put in place actions to address these matters.

The move to a centralised driver licensing service is the right one in the long term, and will provide a better service to the public as well as greater security and better value for money. While there have been teething problems in the new system, I have been assured that these are being dealt with quickly and effectively by the RSA. I apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced by delays in the new system and assure those concerned that it will be sorted out.

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