The Department of Transport Tourism and Sport has this week published its annual Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics. The bulletin is the result of a broad analysis of the national vehicle fleet and contains statistical tables covering:

  • The size, composition, age and fuel type of vehicles;
  • Details on the first licensing of new and imported used vehicles;
  • The number of current driving licenses in each local authority;

Some Key Statistics:

  • The total number of licensed (taxed) vehicles recorded on Irish roads at the 31st December 2015 is 2,570,294. This represents an increase of 54,972 vehicles (2.19%) on the previous year. The main components of the vehicle fleet include 1,985,130 private cars, 330,541 goods vehicles, 82,046 agricultural tractors and 36,974 motorcycles.
  • In the passenger car category, the number of vehicles at 1,985,130 represents an increase from 1,943,868 in the previous year (2.12% increase).
  • A total of 814,904 passenger cars are now taxed based on their Co2 emissions rating. This represents an increase of 149,130 (22.4%) units on the previous year figures and the CO2 based vehicles now represents 41% of the overall passenger car fleet. There are 82% of vehicles bases in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ CO2 bands less than 141 g/km.
  • A total of 153,850 new vehicles were licensed, an increase of 36,198 (30.77%) on the previous year figure. 62,673 imported used vehicles were licensed in 2015, a decrease of 7,595 (-10.81%), on the 2014 figure.
  • 45.55% of vehicles use petrol while 53.61% operate on diesel.
  • 80.85% of private cars are 4 years old and over while 69.16% are 6 years old and over. In 2010, 75% of private cars were 4 years old and over while 56% of private cars were 6 years old and over.
  • 80.51% of goods vehicles are 4 years old and over while 73.17% are 6 years old and over.
  • There were 2.76 million current driving licences at 31st December 2015. 91.3% held full licenses. There were 240,442 Learner Permits licences, an increase of 4,564 on the 2014 figure.

The bulletin is available electronically here or from the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division by email at: dvcsddata@dttas.ie