Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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203. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when certificate of professional competence courses for lorry drivers will be carried out online; the reason they are not carried out online to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54904/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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There is no online driver CPC training in place at the current time. EU Directive 2003/59/EC, which introduced driver CPC, was updated in 2018 (EU Directive 645 of 2018) and the amended directive allows for part of the driver CPC training to be completed online. However, most of the training is required to be completed in a classroom-based environment.

The Road Safety Authority has begun reviewing options for online training and a consultation process with stakeholders has commenced.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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204. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of requests for online CPC courses received; the number of objections to attending an in-person CPC course during the initial "lockdown" and periods in which level-five restrictions were in place in 2020, 2021 and 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54905/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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My department has received 13 representations requesting the provision of online Certificate of Professional Competency (CPC) courses from 2020 to date. The number of representations stating objections to attending an in-person CPC course were four in 2020 and six in 2021. There has been none received in 2022 to date.

Some representations covered both issues.