Vol. 398 No. 3
18 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport the current number of applications on hand for road freight carriers licences; the average length of time from receipt of an application to the issue of the licence; and the basis for the statement made in a letter (details supplied) to the effect that he was confident that there would be an improvement in the situation in regard to the delay in the issuing of such licences in the coming months.
The Deputy will appreciate that the number of applications on hands changes constantly — it is therefore not possible to give exact figures. However, there are approximately 600 applications on hands at the present time. Of these, about 200 contain all the necessary information and backup documentation; the balance are incomplete or incorrect in some respect.
The time from receipt of an application to the issue of a licence can vary considerably from case to case depending, for example, on the complexity of the application. In general, carriers' licences being issued now were applied for around the end of 1989.
I accept that this delay is far too long — as the Deputy was informed by letter of 7 February 1990, the present backlog has arisen for various reasons, including the switch of many companies from "own account" operations using their own fleets to owner driver based operations, where such vehicle owner driver will carry for reward and thus requires a licence; the high level of incorrect or incomplete applications submitted by hauliers; and the high level of inquiries from applicants.
Steps have already been taken to improve the situation. The staff in the licensing section have been reorganised into more efficient units. Specific staff have been designed to deal with the public, thus freeing their colleagues to get on with the job of processing licence applications. Telephone inquiries in the section have been restricted to public office hours. Incomplete applications are no longer accepted. Additional staff have been authorised to grant licences. These measures have already signficantly improved the situation. Until very recently the number of applications being received exceeded those being granted. This has not been reversed.
Much more importantly, however, regulations are now being prepared which will provide for a significant change from the present time consuming method of processing a licence to a system involving spot checks whereby applicants will submit an affidavit from an accountant or solicitor to the effect that all of the required documentation is in order. These regulations, which I expect to make within the next few months, should bring about a major reduction in the time taken to process a carrier's licence.
