226 day turnaround for issuing taxi licences must be addressed – Higgins

The lengthy delay in issuing taxi driver licenses needs to be addressed immediately to improve the chronic shortage of public service vehicles on our roads, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Emer Higgins has called for additional staffing and resources to be allocated to An Garda Síochána and the Carriage Office to improve the 226 day average turnaround time between an applicant passing their small public service vehicle (SPSV) skills text and their license being issued.

Deputy Higgins said, “We’re all aware that there is a shortage of taxis on our roads right now and it’s particularly evident in Dublin where people are reporting huge difficulty in finding a taxi to take them home from the city centre after a night out.

“A couple of prospective taxi drivers have also raised with me their frustration that having passed their SPSV test they have been left waiting months for their license to be issued to allow them begin working as a taxi driver.

“I recently submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister for Transport about these delays and I’m informed by the National Transport Authority that while the shortest timeframe recorded for issuing a SPSV license is 6 days, for driver licences added in 2022 there is on average 226 days between the applicant passing their skills tests and the issuing of a Driver Licence.

“In some cases, there can be a delay between an applicant passing their test and submitting their application, but in most cases, applicants pay the €250 application fee within 2 weeks of passing their test so this doesn’t justify an average turnaround time of over 32 weeks.

“It is of course important that due diligence is done in approving all applications, but when there is a chronic shortage of drivers, a turnaround time of eight months for issuing a license is not helping the situation.

“The typical turnaround time for ordinary drivers’ licenses and learner permits being issued by the NDLS is only a couple of weeks, and a service of similar efficiency is needed for issuing SPSV licenses.

“An Garda Síochána is the licensing authority to grant licences to drive Small Public Service Vehicles so I am calling on the Department of Justice to ensure that the necessary resources are available to drastically improve turnaround times in the service and get more taxi drivers onto our roads as soon as possible,” concluded Deputy Higgins.