Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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72. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he can provide an update on the proposed changes to category W licences; if he has engaged with the RSA to discuss the changes prior to the announcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13232/24]

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I want to ask about category W licences, about which there was some controversy in the past month or so. These are licences for work vehicles including tractors, agricultural vehicles and vehicles used in forestry. The licensing authority stated recently that these licences could no longer be used on building sites or other environments where they are widely used. This issue must be dealt with immediately. The Government has said it will be another six months before it is dealt with but we need to get clarity in respect of it now.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Road Safety Authority, RSA, and my Department have no plans to change the rules in relation to driver licensing for tractors. The current licence category, W, will continue to be the licence category that covers work vehicles and land tractors.

Agricultural vehicles are any power-driven vehicles running on wheels or tracks, having at least two axles, the principal function of which lies in their tractive power, which are specially designed to pull, push, carry or operate certain tools, machines or trailers used in connection with agricultural or forestry operations, and the use of which for carrying persons or goods by road, or drawing on the road, vehicles used for the carriage of persons or goods is only a secondary function.

The definition of work vehicle is a vehicle, other than a land tractor, which has a maximum design speed not exceeding 40 km/h and which is constructed primarily for any work other than the conveyance by road of goods or burdens of any other description. Road traffic laws and the certificate of professional competence, or CPC, requirements apply only when vehicles are used on public roads, not on construction sites.

My Department and the RSA are aware that the European Union’s proposed fourth driving licence directive, which may be adopted by the end of 2024, could provide a revised definition of tractors. Once the new driving licence directive has been published, my Department and the RSA will consult with stakeholders in advance of the introduction of any required changes to relevant national legislation. However, until the new driving licence directive is approved and enacted, the existing approach to tractor licensing will continue to be applied. The RSA website has been updated to reflect this.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that is the case now but the premature change announced on the website caused a lot of difficulties for many people, particularly those for employers whose employees use W category licences for the work they carry out. The driver licence directive which we expect to come into operation in September will mean that changes will have to be made. What I want to know is whether the Government has considered what those changes will be and what impact they will have. The tractors that many of us grew up with include the 35 and the 165 models used on farms but the tractors being used today are much larger and much more powerful and are often used to pull very heavy loads. The licensing of 16 year olds to carry out work on them is probably something that needs to be examined from a safety perspective because there have been a lot of accidents involving some of these very heavy, powerful vehicles. We must get our domestic regulations right and the Government must consider that in advance of the publication of the EU directive.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I agree with the Deputy's latter comments on safety. To return to what we were discussing earlier, safety should be our first consideration in all of these issues. To clarify, part of the problem here was that the RSA made an adjustment to the text regarding W licences on its website last year which garnered attention in recent days. It was an attempt to clarify an interpretation around this licence category but it may have caused unintentional confusion. The RSA has removed the amended wording from its website. That may have been the source of some of the confusion here. Hopefully a lot of this will be helped by the passing of the new licence directive by the EU, expected later this year. That will provide us with the best opportunity to realign or modernise the W licence category in whatever way we want.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome that response but I reiterate the point that we need to work out this in advance. When the EU directive is published it may contain changes which will be expected to be rolled out in every country in Europe. If those changes are going to have an impact on some of the people who drive vehicles of the aforementioned nature, they need to know in advance because it can take quite a long time to get tests and to put things in place to ensure they have the appropriate licence. Perhaps there will be no changes but we need to have clarity around that because there is still some confusion. I accept that the change was made on the RSA website and I welcome that but there is still some confusion about this issue, including about what impact the directive will have and what that will mean for people working on building sites and other areas where they drive large vehicles of that nature.

In a broader context, it is quite unusual for the licensing authority to be so quick to put something up on its website when the directive will not be published for months yet. At the same time, we have hundreds of people with provisional licences driving on the roads on an ongoing basis, which is quite dangerous, and that has not been dealt with by the authority.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We will not know the final details of the directive until a new European Parliament is elected. My understanding from talking to officials in the Department is that we do not expect it within this mandate of the Commission; it will be the next one. It would be slightly premature for us to try to second guess what a new Parliament and a new trilogue process will deliver in the directive. In the interim, it is very important that we are clear that the existing arrangements stay the same. The current licence requirements are set out with real clarity by the RSA and we need to make sure everyone adheres to the existing guidelines, which are not changing.