Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the initial difficulties of the new National Driver Licence Service to operate effectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47149/13]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I seek the Minister's views on the difficulties associated with the national driver testing services and the difficulties experienced in many of the offices around the country. Will he make a statement on the matter?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Under the terms of the Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, became the national driver licensing authority as of January this year. With effect from 19 January, the new credit card-style plastic card driving licence was introduced in all EU member states, replacing existing paper licences. Between 19 January and 25 October, local authorities continued to provide customer services relating to driving licences on behalf of the RSA. On 29 October last, the RSA assumed full responsibility for the service. The RSA designed the new centralised driver licensing system around a central unit within the authority in Ballina and three outsourced contracts. The contracts include one for a front-office service which engages with the public, a second for a back-office service to process applications, and a third for the production of the plastic card licence. These contracts were awarded by the RSA following competitive procurement processes in which neither my Department nor I had any direct role.

Under the front-office contract, provided by SGS Ireland on behalf of the National Driver Licence Service, customer services are offered at 34 full-time centres and two part-time centres around the country. They are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. They remain open through lunchtime. This is a considerable improvement as the new opening hours are longer and more flexible than when the service was provided by the local authorities. Furthermore, people will be able to use any of the offices to apply for or renew their licence rather than having to attend at their own local authority office, as was the case previously. The new network provides services to 95% of the population within a 50 km radius.

The requirement to attend in person only occurs once, namely, when the person receives his first credit-card-style driver licence under this new system. On that occasion, the person’s image is captured through the SAFE 2 system and they have their identity verified in person. This is an important measure to prevent fraud. After attending once in person, people can renew their licence through the postal system and are not required to attend the centres in person again, when their licence needs to be renewed or updated.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Under the new regime, there is a target to process driver licence applications within eight days. I understand that there were some teething issues with the launch of the new national driver licensing service on Tuesday, 29 October, that the RSA informs me have now been resolved.  

There has been a high level of demand for the service since it opened. The RSA has advised me that a number of solutions have been put in place to address the earlier difficulties experienced. These include the assignment of additional staff, the rolling out of a further information campaign and the deployment of a manual booking system which applicants can avail of.

As I stated earlier in the week in response to a Topical Issue query on this subject, the move to a centralised driver licensing service is the right one in the longer term, and it will provide a better service to the public in addition to greater security and better value for money. While there have been teething troubles in the new system, I am satisfied that these are being dealt with quickly and effectively by the RSA.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he accept that there were difficulties at the very outset in regard to the service? Is he satisfied that those difficulties have been ironed out across the 34 centres that are open for business?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I accept that there were considerable difficulties, particularly in the first week, for a number of reasons. They were just teething problems. This is always the case with a new service. No matter how much testing one does on a computer system, the model is never the same as the one that applies in reality. There was a lot of demand. It was a half-term week so it was busier than expected. There was a backlog of applications that had not come through the local authorities. Extra staff are now in place. There is an informal booking arrangement in some local authority areas and there will be a more formalised booking arrangement in the next month.

I am not 100% satisfied that the issue is fully sorted. I met the interim CEO of the RSA to discuss this on Monday. This week, there were far fewer problems than arose in previous weeks. I am confident that any remaining issues can be ironed out in the next week or two.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Did the Minister say the local authorities have a formal or informal mechanism through which one can book?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It operates not through the local authority but through the new service. It will now be possible to book an appointment at a particular time, which means it will be less likely that people will have to queue.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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If Deputies have long supplementary questions, I will not be able to take any more. Other Deputies want to ask their questions.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I will be very brief. I ask the Minister to examine the location of the centres again. I have raised this with him before. Let me refer to my part of the country, Limerick. Limerick is over 100 km from Tralee. While 95% of the population are within a 50 km radius, more than 250,000 are not. I ask that the locations be examined, perhaps with the option of having part-time ones. Could the Minister encourage the RSA to have mobile centres?

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I wish to back up what Deputy O'Donovan just said. The headquarters of the RSA are in Mayo but there is not a centre in Ballina, for instance. Perhaps that could be examined. The bookings initiative is welcome because an initiative of that kind sorted out issues at the Passport Office a number of years ago. It would help in this instance also.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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With regard to locations, it is important to bear in mind that the licences are licences for drivers. By and large, people with driving licences have access to a car even if they do not necessarily own one. Applying for the licence is something one has to do once in one's life, not every year or couple of months. Even people who live in remote rural areas drive to the cities or big towns more than once in their lives. The fact that they can now make an appointment means they can combine their journey with a shopping trip or hospital appointment, for example.

The system will have to be bedded down over the coming weeks. At that point, we will review it and determine whether it is necessary to have additional centres, mobile centres or part-time centres, particularly in areas where there is a geographical gap. I would like the system to be bedded down first. It is important to bear in mind that additional centres will come at an additional cost, which would have to be passed on to those applying for a driving licence.