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The awarding of the new Driving Licence contract to a private contractor managed by the NRA rather than to An Post, has been described as ‘a lost opportunity’. Photo: iStock

The recent Government decision to award the new Driving Licence application regime to a private contractor managed by the National Roads Authority rather than to An Post, has been described as 'a lost opportunity'.

Speaking as the new system which is in operation from this Tuesday will mean that the process of renewing driver licences must be done at one of 34 National Driving Licence centres around the country, Mattie McGrath TD said the decision to go ahead with this new application system really is 'incomprehensible, both in practical and political terms'.

"Only in July we had Minister Rabbitte stroll into the Seanad and stress how important a role the post office serves as a social hub for local communities and how Government acknowledges the desirability of channelling more Government business through the network. Yet here we have a new set up which according to the Post Masters Union will mean some people have to travel 102km to renew their licence."

The Independent TD said an Post was offering 130 centres with 90% of them within a 20km radius.

"Instead we have been landed with a meagre 34 centres spread very unevenly around the country. It is like the Government have gone out of their way to make life more difficult for people to accomplish the most basic of actions.”

There have been increasing calls for the Minister and the Government to fully articulate to people how the decision to award the new licencing arrangement was made given the obvious logistical deficiencies. The NDLS (National Driver Licence System) who will now operate the system have themselves acknowledged that some counties will only have one centre, which will inevitably create significant difficult for some people.

“The maddening thing about this is that the Minister himself spoke about how, while post offices might look traditional on the outside, the network has experienced some significant developments, the most significant of which is that it is now fully computerised."

Saying this investment was necessary, Mr McGrath streses that post offices now operate in an increasingly competitive environment and face challenges from other retailers with electronic payment options and from online payment channels.

"Yet all of this investment has been undermined by the decision to support the creation of a new agency when a perfectly suited network like An Post was already in existence. How can it be justified? This is an absolute farce that proves the Government is only interested in paying lip service to supporting the importance of rural post offices. I would like however to complement all the hard work provided by the staff of County Councils who have up until now done great work in administering the service,” concluded Deputy McGrath.

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