Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I recognise that the Minister of State is standing in for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

We have reached a crisis point in the issuing of driver licences. Last October responsibility transferred from local authorities to the National Driver Licensing Service, NDLS, under the auspices of the Road Safety Authority, RSA. At that stage it was clear that significant delays had built up at the start of the process of issuing replacement or new driver licenses. At the time I refrained from public comment because I felt that a new agency would inevitably have teething problems and should be given an appropriate length of time to resolve whatever teething problems might exist. The situation has, however, gone from bad to worse. Over the past couple of months the waiting time has gradually lengthened and people are very frustrated.

Many of our young citizens have unfortunately had to travel outside the country to find work. They are in Australia, the Middle East, the United States and many other countries. Most of them require driver licences in those countries. Some come home expecting to have their driver licenses renewed or replaced within a normal holiday period. That is not happening. The waiting time is now close to eight weeks. It is really frustrating for the people concerned. They have to leave an application form here and do not have a licence when they return to the country where they work. People going on holidays who need their driver licences renewed cannot hire a car. This is having a real impact on the lives of many citizens at home and abroad. I am not sure why it is happening. I hope the Minister of State can give some indication today of the reasons for the delay, but, more important, I want to hear from the Minister of State, on behalf of the Government, what solution it proposes to ensure these delays are brought to an end at the earliest possible opportunity.

I am not jumping on a bandwagon, and never have done so in respect of this issue. I accepted the need to allow a bedding-in process for the new service provider to get its act together, get its systems in place and operational, and then resolve any outstanding glitches in the system. We are well past that stage now. From October 2013 to almost the end of February 2014 is far beyond the timeframe one would expect for a resolution of the problem.

I appeal to the Minister of State to communicate the concerns of this House to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and to put an action plan in place if the Government does not already have one. People are extremely frustrated. They are contacting Deputies’ offices throughout the country in the expectation that we can somehow involve ourselves in the process. That is not the right thing to do. It would be wrong for us to try to help people jump the queue. There are acute circumstances in which calls will be made to the NDLS, but that is not good enough. The system needs to deliver better than that. The expectation was that there would be a more uniform approach, a better system for our citizens. That does not seem to be the case. Unless the Government can resolve the issue without delay, people will suffer further annoyance and discomfort.

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