Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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222. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport he will consider providing an exemption for a person (details supplied) in County Cork who held a provisional licence just prior to November 1989 when it comes to the issue of special licences for persons towing trailers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49694/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Driver licensing is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), and I cannot comment on individual cases.  

As a matter of policy, there was a change to driver licensing law as of 13 November 1989.  Prior to that date, there was one category of licence covering both a car and the drawing of a trailer with a car.  From that date there were two separate categories, one for car and one for car plus trailer.  People who held a full licence before that date were allowed, when renewing their licences, to apply for both new categories.  It would appear that a number of people mistakenly did not tick boxes for both categories when renewing their licences, and so lost their trailer entitlements.

Following representations from farming organisations earlier this year, I agreed, on a once-off basis, that people who held a full licence under the pre-November 1989 system and inadvertently lost their trailer entitlement in the interim could have their trailer entitlement restored.  The RSA advertised for applications for restoration of trailer licences in October, and the closing date for receipt of applications was 8 November 2013.   

This once-off procedure applied only to people who had a full licence before 13 November 1989, and did not apply to people who held a provisional licence at that time.