Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak to this Private Members' motion and thank the Deputies involved for tabling it. The outsourcing of the issuing and renewal of driver licences has been a farce from the start. Hardly a week goes by without some form of complaint made to my office about the standard of the quality of the service provided by the NDLS. This has nothing to do with the staff members; it is a matter of understaffing, under-resourcing and pointless procedures. The Minister of State will be aware of the issues; they have already been outlined to her. All are by-products of outsourcing, and anyone watching this debate will be able to see that. Among the complaints are staff shortages, a lack of timely service, limited opening hours for centres and the need for a public services card to avail of the online service. Is it mandatory but not compulsory? Is it compulsory but not mandatory? Who knows? Other complaints are the non-acceptance of cash payments when, as has been outlined, there are still people who use cash only as well as the recent cessation of the walk-in service. The vast majority of these issues have at their root the outsourcing of the service, which has caused it to be run on a shoestring budget to ensure that the operating company can make as much profit as possible. As is ever the case, it is the public, in particular older people, who will suffer because of this. Receiving or renewing one's driver licence should be straightforward, simple and stress-free. Instead it has become complicated and very stressful for people.

It has also become very complicated for professional drivers such as HGV drivers who wish to exchange a foreign driving licence for an Irish one. I have been told that some drivers who are qualified to work here are left in limbo for up the three months due to delays in issuing PPS numbers in the first instance and then delays in NDLS appointments, which compounds the issue. While the operating company of the NDLS may point to issues due to Covid, the reality is that the delays and difficulties existed pre Covid, as the Minister of State will be aware.

There must be a way to resolve these difficulties. The NDLS operates 34 offices, some of them only part-time. By comparison, An Post has a network of over 950 post offices with decades of experience in dealing with customers and delivering Government services. There is no NDLS office in my constituency, but we do have plenty of post offices.

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