asked the Minister for the Environment the reason a person (details supplied) in County Waterford was given an extra two years' endorsement on his provisional driver's licence when the two occasions on which he was late for renewal were a result of a delay in receiving his endorsement from Thomastown, County Kilkenny and while he was awaiting proof from Dublin of his application for a driving test for the local tax office.
Written Answers. - Licence Endorsement.
161.
Section 37 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 provides for the carry over of endorsements on a driving licence to subsequent driving licences. Under this provision a person whose licence has been endorsed must, before he can obtain a licence free from that endorsement, satisfy the licensing authority that he has held a driving licence either during a continuous period of not less than three years, or a series of discontinuous periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than five years after the date of the original endorsement.
I understand from Waterford Corporation, who are the licensing authority involved that, in the case of the person concerned, Thomastown District Court ordered on 2 April 1984, that particulars of a conviction be endorsed on a provisional licence held by him at the time.
The licence held by the person concerned expired on 8 May 1984. It is open to a person to apply for a licence up to one month before the expiry of his current licence. While the new licence subsequently granted to him was not issued until 4 July 1984, according to the corporation's records the application was made on 10 May 1984, that is two days after the date of expiry of his previous licence.
The corporation's records also show that despite the fact that the 1984 licence expired on 3 July 1985, a valid application for a further licence was not received by them until 16 July 1985 — the licence being granted on the same day. There is no record on the corporation's file to suggest that the person concerned was asked prior to 16 July 1985 to produce proof of an application for a driving test — such proof was already on their records. Neither is there any record in my Department of a request from the person concerned seeking such proof.
It is only since 16 July 1985 that the person concerned has held a licence without a break between the expiry of one licence and the granting of another. He presently holds a three year full driving licence (granted on 16 June 1987 after he passed his driving test). He will have fulfilled the three year rule by 15 July 1988 and will be entitled to surrender his licence for a licence free from that endorsement with effect from 16 July 1988.