Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 31 January 2013
236. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will justify the cost anomalies where a person aged 65 years or over may only apply for a driving licence for a three year period, at ages 67 to 69, at a cost of €35 or a five year period, at 65 to 70, at a cost of €55, when a ten year licence costs €55; and the action he will take to deal with this pricing structure. [4970/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraRecently, in conjunction with the introduction of the new plastic card driving licence and the centralisation of driver licensing nationally under the Road Safety Authority (RSA), I introduced a new fee structure for driver licensing. This represents the first time that fees have been increased since 1989. Driver licence fees have not been keeping pace with inflation since 1989 and, as a result, the driver licence service has been under funded for many years and has had to rely heavily on the Exchequer. I made the decision to increase fees from 1 January to allow for the service to become self-funding in 2013 and every year thereafter.
In respect of people between the ages of 60 and 67, a driving licence may be granted for a period of 1 year or 3 years, together with the unexpired period of a licence previously granted to the applicant, where the application for the licence is required to be accompanied by a medical report and the medical report indicates that the applicant appears to require medical review. However, where an application does not require a medical report to be accompanied, all licences with a validity period greater than 3 years and less than 10 will be charged €55. It would have been administratively difficult to apply a different or proportionate pricing regime in these circumstances. However, I opted to maintain the position that no fee would apply to applicants over 70 years of age. Similarly, no fee will apply to anyone wishing to change personal details on a licence.
