Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 October 2019
255. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the master licence record project with reference to the amount that was spent on this project in 2019; and the amount that has been budgeted for 2020. [44171/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Garda Inspectorate report ‘The Fixed Charge Processing System, a 21st Century Strategy’ contained a recommendation that a system be introduced to ensure that all penalty points are endorsed on driving licences. The Master Licence Record (MLR) programme was approved by the previous Minister of this Department, and the Minister for Justice and Equality. The programme seeks to assist in the endorsement of penalty points by matching vehicle and driver records on my Departments National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF), and over time, by establishing owner identity for all vehicle records.
The first two phases of the MLR matching project are now complete. These phases involved associating vehicle owner records with driver records by matching existing NVDF records. The MLR now contains 1.3 million records, which includes 33% of currently-taxed vehicle records. This matching process is run every week by my Departments officials after which a file containing the vehicle-driver associations is sent to An Garda Siochána.
Phase 2 of the MLR programme primarily involves establishing vehicle owner identity when individuals engage with other Departmental systems, such as change of vehicle ownership and application for motor tax. Although legislation and legal advice are still pending on some measures, systems are currently in development to establish vehicle owner identity with regard to the registration of privately-imported vehicles and online change of vehicle ownership between private individuals.
Just over €1.5m was spent on the project for the period January to September 2019 inclusive. The budget for the programme in 2020 has not yet finalised. Any development costs in this regard will be met from my Department's Revised Estimate.
