As the Deputy may be aware, the National Transport Authority (NTA), the statutory regulator, has since the start of the pandemic taken action to reduce the operating costs for small public service vehicle (SPSV) operators. It has extended vehicle age limits and waived late renewal fees though to June 2021. Furthermore, my Department will provide funding to the NTA to enable it to waive its standard annual SPSV (vehicle) licence renewal fees in 2021.
Unlike vehicle licences, which are renewed annually, SPSV driver licences are normally issued for a five-year period. Therefore the waiving of fees for a single year would not be appropriate, as it would be both unfair to those who have licences which expire in other years and would encourage drivers to renew their licences well before their normal expiry period. Accordingly the fees for SPSV driver licences, which are issued by An Garda Síochána, are unchanged.