Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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202. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to provide an exemption for those whose initial basic training certificate expired before they were called for a motorcycle test due to delays in the testing system, yet who held it at the time of application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3171/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The validity period of Initial Basic Training (IBT) certificates is set out in legislation. Making a change to the validity of an existing certificate requires a change in law.

During 2021, extensions were made depending on when an IBT cert was issued, for certs issued between the 01 March 2018 - 30 June 2019. This was to cater for cases where there was a difficulty in getting a test appointment because of the Covid 19 pandemic. IBT certificates issued beyond this date were not extended; it was felt that the date chosen represented a reasonable concession to motorcyclists looking to obtain a driving test. While the driver testing service did not operate between March and July 2020, outside of this period motorcycle tests continued to be delivered as usual. For that reason, the disruption to motorcycle tests was less significant than to other vehicle types where only essential workers were being tested.

No further extensions are being considered at this time.