Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue for discussion today and thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, for coming to the House to deal with it.

I raised this issue in January with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, when the guidelines for issuing new driving licences were published. I have since been approached by several professional photographers seeking a clear, concise and logical reason they will not be permitted to supply images for the new driving licences. I have failed to date, based on the information available, to do so. To be fair, the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, referred my earlier query to the Road Safety Authority, from which I received a substantive response. I also received a follow-up response from Mr. Noel Brett, CEO of the RSA, for which I am grateful. However, I remain unconvinced of the reasons given for centralising and monopolising this service.

The main reasons for these changes were supplied to me and to the industry. The first is identity validation. I would have thought the presentation of a photograph to the Garda Síochána, which is duly stamped and signed by a garda, to be pretty tight security of identity. It could be argued that in handing over this authorisation to ordinary citizens - namely, staff of the RSA - we are weakening this security. The second reason is the need for the highest available standard of quality. I am sure it will take little to convince the Minister of State that professional photographers would have no problem providing images in any format, quality or specification, should they be afforded the opportunity to do so. The third reason is the provision of a faster and more effective service. To give this as a reason for the change is to highlight the lack of good, valid reasons. We are talking in this regard about the difference between postage times, which range from 12 to 24 hours nationally. In my opinion, this timescale will not alter customer satisfaction in any shape or form. I would argue that people will have to plan more time and possibly take a half day or a full day off work to attend an NDLS centre, which could be located up 50 km from them, thus prolonging the process for the applicant. In my experience, having discussed this issue over the past few months with local photographers, they are more than aware of the acceptable guidelines for driving licences and passports, which to date have been more particular than those for driving licences and demand a higher level of security. It was also stated that during the tender process bidders were afforded an opportunity to select paper or digital images, and all opted for digital images. This is hardly surprising. All businesses worldwide, as well as ordinary people, now opt to carry out their business online rather than by using paper, envelopes and stamps.

I could possibly, but reluctantly, attempt to understand all of the above if it were not for the fact that in the context of the renewal of licences, all of these reasons go out the window. For example, as the end product in respect of a licence that is being renewed will be exactly the same as the original, the image is not an issue; as a person could change somewhat over a ten-year period, it is also not an issue; faster and more effective service to the customer is not an issue, and minimising the number of customers turned away also becomes irrelevant.

I sought permission to raise this matter largely because of jobs. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, is at pains to cut red tape for small businesses, and indeed is succeeding. In contrast, this proposed change affects small businesses by preventing them from providing this service. Last year, almost 700,000 new licences were issued. At an average cost of €8 for photographs, this represents a loss of trade to the sector of between €5 million and €6 million, which is a very significant loss in the current economic climate. I urge the Minister to direct the RSA to review this matter so as to keep these jobs and revenues in local communities.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I welcome the opportunity to address this matter, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar.

Many Deputies have raised questions regarding photo capture under the new national driver licensing service run by the Road Safety Authority. This is a good opportunity to address the detail of the matter. The factual basis of what has changed in the area of driver licensing should be clear. Up to this year, driver licences were issued by the motor taxation offices of local authorities. This involved more than 30 different motor taxation offices dedicating staff and resources to the processing of driver licence applications and the issuing of licences. While everybody agrees that the staff in these offices were very committed and did excellent work, this is hardly an optimal way to organise driver licensing.

The EU requirement to introduce a plastic card driving licence from January 2013 means there will be significant changes in the way licences are produced and provides an opportunity to review the entire system for driver licensing. Following on from a study which examined the alternative ways in which driver licensing might be organised, the Government decided in May 2011 to move to a centralised national driver licensing service, and decided that the Road Safety Authority would be given charge of this system.

Centralising the services offers a number of benefits over the old system. It will provide for greater consistency of practice and service across the country. The creation of a single national driver licensing service will provide for greater security and, under the RSA, offer a one-stop shop to the public, from theory test to driving test to licence issue.

It should be stressed that, while the service has been transferred from local authorities, no jobs are being lost in that area, but it means many local authority staff are being freed for redeployment and reassignment within their local authorities. This is very beneficial at local authority level. The new service is expected to be self-financing. All of this should be very welcome in these times when we are looking for opportunities across the board to do more with less.

The legislation to give authority over driver licensing to the RSA was passed in 2012. At the same time, the RSA was working to develop the new driver licensing service. The Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Public Expenditure and Reform and the Environment, Community and Local Government, with the City and County Managers Association, have been involved in assisting the RSA during this process through a group which has met regularly to review progress and assist the RSA in addressing any issue arising. The new system, designed by the RSA, involves three outsourced elements, overseen by a specialised unit based in RSA headquarters in Ballina. The three outsourced elements are a card production facility, a front office for engaging with the customer and a back office to process applications. This system will not be fully up and running until September this year. In the meantime, the motor taxation offices continue to perform front office functions on behalf of the RSA. Deputies may wish to note that during the transition period applicants can still provide their photos as before. Once the new system is fully operational, there will be a different system for providing photo ID. The capture of the photograph is included in the fee for the licence and the SAFE2 ID will be implemented, at which point the only option will be the digital photo taken in the front office network.

Some of the questions received on this issue seem to be based on the impression that there was an award of a contract specifically to provide photos. This is not the case. The RSA advertised three contracts for card production, front office and back office functions. It is understood from the RSA that when it published the request for tenders for the front office functions, it asked tenderers to indicate a preference for scanning or digital capture. All three tenderers went for digital capture, as it provides the most effective, secure and efficient process. I understand the Department of Social Protection follows the same procedure for the new public service card.

It should be emphasised that the operation of the tender processes was a matter for the RSA and that the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, had no involvement in it. The contractors for the front office, back office and card production functions have been procured.

The job of the RSA in designing the new driver licensing service was to provide an optimal service, with value for money. It cannot be expected to design a modern, secure, efficient and up-to-date process without some impact on existing support services. In fairness, I doubt that the Deputy or anyone else would seriously suggest we should not modernise or streamline services, where possible. If doing this has an impact on people who have provided external services to an older and less efficient system, this is not a ground for failing to modernise. Some of the figures received in correspondence for the alleged numbers involved in what some correspondents call the photo ID industry could be disputed. It would be absurd to require it to tailor its service provision to be less than efficient in order to suit a service provider to an older and less efficient system. I again thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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With respect, the point has been missed. I am not trying to halt the modernisation or centralisation of the service. That process and the new plastic card are very welcome. What is at issue is that people will have to go to a centralised office to have their photograph taken. That requirement immediately eliminates all local photographers who have provided this service for many years. The argument has been made that the process is required for digital security, efficiency and cost saving purposes, but when renewing the plastic card, there will be no problem in going to a local photographer to have one's photograph taken, as one would do for other purposes, and submit it. That illustrates there is a breakdown in the logic underpinning the argument made. The RSA should clarify this point.

I respect the fact that the Minister had no involvement in the tendering process and do not expect him to micromanage the process. However, I respectfully ask him to go back to the RSA to ask it to outline the reason local photographers cannot continue to be involved in the process. I accept the move to modernise and centralise the service and the introduction of the plastic card, but in terms of insisting on people going to a centralised office to have their photograph taken, for people living in west Cork, from where I come, it may involve taking a day off work and travelling 50 km to have their photograph taken. Traditionally, people were able to have their photograph taken by a photographer in their nearest town. These photographs are good enough for passports, for which there is a higher level of security than a driving licence. I do not accept the explanation the RSA is giving for this change and refusing the input of the local photographer.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I do not doubt the Deputy's sincerity in raising the issue. Unfortunately, in some cases where modernisation happens, disintermediation occurs in various sectors, of which this is a small example. The RSA which is conducting this process has its own good reasons, from a technological point of view, for wanting to deal with photographs in this way. I will not second-guess it, but I will request that it answer the Deputy directly on the specific points made. It has been mentioned that jobs will be lost in localities, including of photographers who conduct this business, but the alleged number of jobs at stake cannot possibly be supported by the revenue of the sector as declared. I question the figures given in that regard. I will refer the specific questions asked to the RSA to be answered directly.