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

In terms of charging for the letter, perhaps Deputy O'Mahony can give me the details so that I can check it out. If the delay was caused by the RSA or the contractor, not by the person in question, it seems unfair that the applicant would be charged for the letter.

The booking system is not fully up and running but it is coming into place. In the case of those who live far away from one of the existing centres, as I mentioned, 95% of the population live within 50 km of a centre and, by their nature, those applying for driving licences tend to either own or have access to a car. That means there are 200,000 who do not live within 50 km of a centre, some of whom are looking for learner permits and do not have access to a car. When the system settles down, we will have a look at providing additional centres, or, maybe, in some cases, even mobile centres but that would involve a change to the contract.

On those living overseas, I dealt with a query on this earlier. There is a solution to that, and they can apply directly through Ballina. Under EU law, to get a driving licence one must be ordinarily resident in the State but if the person can prove he or she is either studying overseas with a letter from the university or on a contract overseas with a letter from the employer, of if he or she can produce evidence of being resident in Ireland such as a utility bill, it is possible for the person to have his or her driving licence renewed and posted to his or her registered address in Ireland. I can give the Deputy details on that.

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