Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I hope he will. I am sympathetic, as both Senators will know, to the difficulties caused by the closure of the post offices throughout rural Ireland. I was well aware of that during the period of the previous Government. I have not lost those sympathies but this is a subject I have to address in light of the circumstances in which we find ourselves and what has happened since 2011.

The previous Government, of which neither Senator Burke nor I were members as he was above politics at the time and I was in opposition, decided in May 2011 to move from a system under which local authorities issued driving licences to one where a single National Driver Licence Service, NDLS, would operate under the Road Safety Authority. The Government decision was made because it made sense in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and security as well as value for money. At that time, more than 30 local authorities were responsible for issuing driver licences, and this led to duplication, inefficient use of resources, and considerable unevenness in the quality of service provision. The then Government maintained the new system was able to operate in a more streamlined way, while local authorities were able to reassign staff to areas of more pressing concern to them. I am happy to add that no jobs were lost.

The NDLS operates with a central unit in the RSA and three outsourced contractors - a front office to engage with the public, a back office to process applications, and a manufacturer for the plastic card licence. The point raised by Senator Burke, namely, whether An Post might act as front office agents for the NDLS, was raised by a number of Members of both Houses when the legislation for the NDLS was being passed during 2012.

The starting point has to be that the NDLS is about providing a driver licensing service to the public. The three outsourced elements are advertised for tender. The tender processes in each case must comply with rules and guidelines, both national and European. The essence of these rules is that the processes must be open, fair and transparent. We cannot have a situation where tender processes are slanted or prejudged, and I am sure no one intends that we should. Government policy on all tender processes remains that they should be open, transparent, and fair. I therefore expect the RSA, like any agency of the State, to run fair contracting processes which are designed to select the best proposals for any contractor. The aims of any such contracting process for a service to the public must be to ensure a high-quality service will be provided, that the public will get value for money, and that the process by which a contractor is selected is fair and equitable to all those who tender. I am assured that this was the case in all the NDLS contracts.

There is, of course, nothing to prevent An Post applying for the front office contract, and I understand that they did so when it was first advertised. It remains open to An Post to tender to run the service when it comes up for renewal, which I understand is next year or possibly the year after. It is due to come up next year but it can and probably will be postponed until 2018. As the Senator may be aware, under the programme for Government, the Government has committed to establishing the feasibility of offering motor tax services and other State services in post offices.