Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2014
1236. Deputy Ciara Conway asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the position regarding the national driver licence service and its operation to date, particularly in the context of the waiting time relating to the processing of applications. [12993/14]
View answerThe operation of the National Driver Licensing Service (NDLS) is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority (RSA). As I have previously indicated to the House, there were some initial teething problems when the NDLS was launched in late October of last year, and these led to some unacceptable delays in processing driver licence applications, which developed over the first few weeks of the new service. I met the acting CEO of the RSA at the time to discuss this, and the RSA introduced a number of measures to address the problem.
I understand that the NDLS is now processing applications within eight to thirteen days, in cases where there are no problems in the application, that is to say, in cases where the NDLS does not have to contact the applicant for clarification or additional documentation. The NDLS assures me that it is on course to have a 5-8 day turnaround for non-problematic applications by the beginning of April.
