John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement made on Wednesday by the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, in relation to the further extension of driver licences, due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. The Minister will be in the Chamber later but I am not down to speak on that so I thought it was important to put information into the public domain on this very important topic. My office has been inundated, as I am sure have other offices across the country, with people whose licences are nearing expiry or have expired over recent months. I do not think we can underestimate the importance of this issue because for many people, particularly elderly people in rural or isolated areas, their car and their driving licence are so important. At the same time, they did not want to put their health at risk by attending a national driver licence centre. The extension is hugely welcome.

For clarity, anyone who receives a licence extension will not be sent a new licence. Rather, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, which manages the national driver licence system, will automatically update driver records to show the new expiry date and a letter will be sent to every customer who is entitled to the extension. Importantly, An Garda Síochána and Insurance Ireland have also been informed of the changes.Any licenceholder who has not already renewed or whose licence expired between 1 March 2020 and 31 May 2020 will have a new expiry date of 1 July 2021. Similarly, any licenceholder who has not already renewed and whose licence expired between 1 June 2020 and 31 August 2020 will have 13 months added to his or her licence. Any licenceholder who has not already renewed and whose licence expiry date is between 1 September and 30 June will have an extra ten months added to his or her licence. I thank the Minister of State. This is an important issue and I am glad it has finally been clarified.