Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Paddy Burke for sharing time with me. I welcome the Minister to the Chamber.

I support the motion. Until 2013, vehicle licensing was under the jurisdiction of the local authority before it transferred to the Road Safety Authority. Arising from the arrangement made by the RSA, licences now issue from fewer offices. This causes difficulties, particularly in rural areas. As has been described, people may have to travel 50 miles to go the NDLS centre, a round trip of 100 miles to apply for their licence. They must attend one office as opposed to the many offices of the local authority. Cognisance needs to be taken of the problems posed by the limited number of NDLS centres. People do not have the option of using public transport. I think the post office network is ideally suited to act as agents in respect of driving licences. It has a large network of post offices throughout the country. It does a similar job in regard to the application process for a passport. There is no problem with fraud or in validating the identity of the person, which is assisted by the Garda verifying the individuals who are applying for a passport and the process being handled by the post offices. This has worked very well. We all know the passport is an important document.

We have an opportunity to consider the post office network as an agent for this service. It would be in keeping with Government policy to drive business and stimulate the growth of post offices with real business while at the same time responding to the need in rural Ireland. I urge the Minister to consider this motion, especially in the context of the Road Safety Authority putting the service out to tender.