Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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224. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is taking to reduce the barriers to entry into the profession of commercial driving; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are many fully qualified licensed drivers with a C, D or CE licence that could drive right now but they are excluded from doing so for hire and reward due to the fact that their driver CPC card is out of date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37267/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Under EU law, all professional bus and truck drivers require a valid driver certificate of professional competence (CPC) card when driving for a living. A number of extensions have been provided for drivers with expired CPC cards during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drivers with CPC cards that expired between 1 February and 31 August 2020 were originally granted an extension of 7 months. This was extended for an additional 6 months or until 1 July 2021, whichever was the later. Drivers with a CPC card that expired between 1 September 2020 and 30 June 2021 were granted an extension of 10 months. 

In situations where a driver does not have a valid CPC card and must obtain one in order to re-establish entitlement to driver CPC, it is possible to complete CPC training as it is classified as an essential service during restrictions.

I am advised that the Road Safety Authority is not aware of any issues with the supply of driver CPC training. The majority of CPC training organisations are back up and running and there courses are taking place throughout the country.