Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Independent Group for this motion. It is the second Wednesday morning Private Member's motion in a row which makes eminent sense and is speaking to a real need felt by thousands of people who have been going through heartache in renewing their driving licences.

The Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, has left and the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, has joined us. The Government has said it is not opposing this motion. What does that actually mean? Will we see any changes called for in this motion, which has the support of this side of the House, implemented, specifically regarding the offices accepting cash, which they should, and the use of the PSC, which is not and should not be required in this situation?

Since the pandemic, the new operation of the NDLS has resulted in a reduction in the level and quality of service received by users and the NDLS no longer provides users with a walk-in service. We all accepted that certain services were going to be impacted by Covid and that it would take a while for certain services to return to a level of normality or catch up on backlogs. Passports being one with which we have all dealt in the past number of months. There has been a point of real crisis here but the passport service does seem to be getting back to some level of normality and turning things around in a relatively quick manner - touch wood.

What is different about the NDLS is that it is not even trying to get back to normal. It has used Covid as an opportunity to copper-fasten an entire change in how it operates. This is not trying to get back to a face-to-face, proper public service. As Deputy McNamara said, this is no longer a public service. It is operated by a private operator, SGS, but it is not operated according to public need. It is operated for profit and the public is having to jump through needless hoops, which is having a real impact not just on waiting lists and call-backs. It is having an impact on people starting new jobs because they need driving licences and they cannot get them because they need a PSC, which is ridiculous, and cannot get appointments to obtain the latter. We all deal with constituents. I spent just under four weeks trying to get somebody over the line with the NDLS because of the PSC obstacle.

It is fundamental. People say "Don't bring ideology into this, don't bring ideology into that" but this is the outworking of a right-wing ideology played out in terms of a public service. We talk about the time when people could go into their local authority and renew their licences. Maybe that was not the best model but it was a model whereby people were face to face and knew where they could go, and it actually worked. We have replaced something that worked with something that is not working. It may be working for SGS and the Department as it does not have to actually manage the delivery of this and does not have any real responsibility for it - like everything. I cannot wait for the reply we will get to a parliamentary question soon telling us that this is a service matter for SGS and that if it does not reply within ten days, to get back to the Minister because that is what we get with HSE inquiries and an awful lot of financial inquiries when they relate to banks - banks we own. Regarding moving everything to phone services, look at what happened with the banks. Look at what the Central Bank found regarding banking services. It crucified all our banks for offering deplorable customer service over the phone.

This is a quality-of-life issue for many people. Regarding the days of having to do your household messages, going down to the village and nipping into the post office, the bank, shops or the building society, that actually worked for people all over the country. Our 950-branch post office network is crying out for business, is trusted by the people and is skilled in the provision of public services and here we have instead part-time offices scattered all over the country in some population centres instead of in every community and not accepting cash and walk-in appointments. It is turning into a pathetic service for something that is vital. A driving licence is vital for work, caring, families and commuting. It is a statutory document to which we are entitled It is a rite of passage for many - driving lessons, getting a provisional licence and moving on to do a full test. It is a rite of passage, a right and a need and the State is failing. This is a succinct and to-the-point motion that speaks to a real deficiency in what the Government is doing in this area. If the Government is not going to implement the asks in the motion, it may as well vote against it because otherwise when it does this as a Government, it is just being dishonest. I commend the Independent group on this motion and look forward to the rest of the debate.

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