New service for applying for drivers licences

snappieT

No longer apply in the motor tax office, now use the NDLS: http://www.ndls.ie/en/about-us/what-is-the-ndls.html

Biggest change seems to be digitalisation. They'll take your picture and digital copy of your signature at the centre, and you have to apply in person.

Pretty spectacular that there is no centre in Dublin City Centre - you have to go out to Santry, Leopardstown, or Citywest to get your licence now. At least they now open Saturdays.

SimonQuinlank

Can still apply the usual way until Friday.

Ridiculous that there's no centre in the city.

dowlingm

Has this been contracted out or is it public service staff? I think Serco does Ontario's licencing stuff.

n97 mini

Contracted out.

I wonder what will happen to all those surplus staff in the local authority offices now.

Mycroft H

n97 mini wrote: »

Contracted out.

I wonder what will happen to all those surplus staff in the local authority offices now.

Redeployed to somewhere else where they can drag their heels........

Carawaystick

n97 mini wrote: »

Contracted out.

And it's still only 9-5 half day sat,
Hafta take time off work to get a license, should be open at least as long as nct

July Rain

What is the meaning of this change ? Will passports go this way too ?

L1011

July Rain wrote: »

What is the meaning of this change ? Will passports go this way too ?

I suspect they intend to close the motor tax office system. The advance notice for off the road cars is another sign.

n97 mini

You'd wonder could motor tax not all be done on-line and by post.

Mr Simpson

Tax, if it has to be done in person, should be handled by An Post imo. No need for motor tax offices now

Why u wanna know

Mr Simpson, Its now 9 to 5 where as in the MTO it was 10 to 4 and they werent open on Saturday. its also open at lunch time. see details http://www.ndls.ie/en/Awareness-Campaign/awareness-campaign.html

veliktom

I'm also surprised there is no city centre location in Dublin, and it seems to be the same for other cities. At least the Citiwest and Leopardstown locations are both near luas stops, but by definition a lot of people who can't drive will be using the service and the city centre is by far the easiset place to get to by puclic transport.

dowlingm

Got an email this morning (here in Toronto) from NDLS for a guy from Shercock, Co. Cavan who didn't fill his form out properly. People shouldn't be able to use email for this sort of thing without a verification procure where you're sent a link to confirm the address.

AlekSmart

dowlingm wrote: »

Got an email this morning (here in Toronto) from NDLS for a guy from Shercock, Co. Cavan who didn't fill his form out properly. People shouldn't be able to use email for this sort of thing without a verification procure where you're sent a link to confirm the address.

As I understand it,the main reason behind this new procedure stems from a rather large number of Irish Driving Licences surfacing in Europe and beyond as proof of identities.

I seem to recall an article from the mid 2000's about Interpol raising it at some Law Enforcement seminar or other ??

BuffyBot

It's more to standardise licence types across the EU.

Fraud undoubtedly plays a part (but that was not just limited to Irish licences). Standardisation has a whole host of benefits for all countries involved.

The standardisation process was as good as any incentive for the NDLS to be created and have the procedure under the auspices of the RSA and removing it from local authorities.

murphaph

n97 mini wrote: »

Contracted out.

I wonder what will happen to all those surplus staff in the local authority offices now.

Not much. What do you think DLRCC did to all the bin men they didn't need after contracting out the service to a private company? Nothing, they "redeployed" them all magically away into other "useful" roles and saved €0 in the process.

n97 mini

murphaph wrote: »

Not much. What do you think DLRCC did to all the bin men they didn't need after contracting out the service to a private company? Nothing, they "redeployed" them all magically away into other "useful" roles and saved €0 in the process.

Due to cutbacks KCC reduced public library opening hours across the county. Shortly afterwards they ended the bin collection service. Now they've ended the driver licensing. And have new revenue from property taxes. But yet despite being asked, they still have no money to put the libraries back to normal opening hours, so our students go across the bridge to Lucan to study during mid term etc., where the libraries are still on normal opening hours.

corktina

35 miles to my nearest centre.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Mr Simpson

corktina wrote: »

35 miles to my nearest centre.

35 miles, once every ten years for most people isn't that bad

joegriffinjnr

Traffic around the Omni in Santry is now a nightmare over this. I hope to god this isnt long term and one opens in town. Cant even go the bloody shops anymore.

Mr Simpson

Fred Swanson wrote: »

So do they make the licence there and then?

Nope, its posted out. They say 8 working days

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

corktina

Mr Simpson wrote: »

35 miles, once every ten years for most people isn't that bad

EVERY 10 years?:D

Mr Simpson

Fred Swanson wrote: »

So no improvement over the old system.

Dunno about your area, but I had to wait 7 weeks for my last one

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Carawaystick

What's the reason for the delay in printing the licenses? Is it civil service uselessness? Like their crap opening hours? And poor locations?

If you've to turn up and apply in person, I'd have expected the license there and then. If you drive there, you can't drive home as you have no license

n97 mini

Carawaystick wrote: »

If you've to turn up and apply in person, I'd have expected the license there and then.

Even with the paper ones it still took the council 6 weeks!

Carawaystick

n97 mini wrote: »

Even with the paper ones it still took the council 6 weeks!

Took me fifteen minutes to get my provisional, most of that was in the q.

Posted in the full and renewal forms

echo beach

Why u wanna know wrote: »

Mr Simpson, Its now 9 to 5 where as in the MTO it was 10 to 4 and they werent open on Saturday. its also open at lunch time. see details http://www.ndls.ie/en/Awareness-Campaign/awareness-campaign.html

The point is you didn't have to go in person to the motor tax office, you could post in the forms or have somebody else drop them in for you. Now you have to travel to the centre. There are only two centres for Donegal leaving many people with over an hour's drive each way so a half day at least, assuming you have access to private transport as public transport is practically non-existent, which is why you need a driving licence in the first place.
At a minimum there should be a licencing centre adjacent to each driving test centre. A person passing their driving test in Buncrana will now have to travel to Letterkenny to get their licence.

n97 mini

Carawaystick wrote: »

Took me fifteen minutes to get my provisional, most of that was in the q.

Posted in the full and renewal forms

Renewed my full in August. Council rang me after 4 weeks and told me it was going to be another 2 weeks.

Daughter applied for her provisional in August. Went in to council offices. Took 6 weeks to get posted out.

Mind you that's Kildare CC.

(I might have the months wrong, can't remember, but that's immaterial)

Sheldons Brain

Not much. What do you think DLRCC did to all the bin men they didn't need after contracting out the service to a private company? Nothing, they "redeployed" them all magically away into other "useful" roles and saved €0 in the process.

They kept other services going. Why should they pay redundancy and then have the State pay unemployment to these people, a significant proportion of a binman's wages, when they were critically short of staff in other areas?

What's the reason for the delay in printing the licenses? Is it civil service uselessness?

How can it be civil service uselessness when it has been privatised?

n97 mini

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

They kept other services going. Why should they pay redundancy and then have the State pay unemployment to these people, a significant proportion of a binman's wages, when they were critically short of staff in other areas?

I think the point he's making is that when the bin collection service ceased we didn't see any improvement in any other service.

Delta2113

"You should only need to attend an NDLS centre once to do this face to face
application – after that, you will be able to get subsequent licences and learner permits by
phone/postal application."

markpb

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

How can it be civil service uselessness when it has been privatised?

Has it? I can't see anything about it being operated by anyone other than the RSA.

flazio

If the nearest one is in a neighbouring county, can I use it or do I have to use one in my county?

BuffyBot

You can use any of them.

Delta2113

"Due to high levels of demand for the new licences, we're asking people to please only apply if your current licence expires within the next 4 weeks."


- advert page 22 -The Irish Mail on Sunday

Mr Simpson

markpb wrote: »

Has it? I can't see anything about it being operated by anyone other than the RSA.

It's being operated by SGS on behalf of the RSA, the same people who run the NCTS

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Mr Simpson

Fred Swanson wrote: »

SGS have not run the NCTS in a long time.

I forgot it had changed

pentash

It hasn't been privatised. The Road Safety Authority are now responsible.

Padraig Mor

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

How can it be civil service uselessness when it has been privatised?

"Dublin City Council is to close three of its Motor Tax Offices for a week to allow time to process ........'non-use declarations', motor tax and driving licence applications."

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/dublin-motor-tax-offices-close-for-week-to-clear-backlog-612114.html


So the first thing the council layabouts do after effectively gaining extra staff due to the outsourcing of driving licence processing.......is to close to process driving licences (among other things).

Losty Dublin

Padraig Mor wrote: »

"Dublin City Council is to close three of its Motor Tax Offices for a week to allow time to process ........'non-use declarations', motor tax and driving licence applications."

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/dublin-motor-tax-offices-close-for-week-to-clear-backlog-612114.html


So the first thing the council layabouts do after effectively gaining extra staff due to the outsourcing of driving licence processing.......is to close to process driving licences (among other things).

The motor tax offices are still dealing with the motor tax backlog. It's no wonder that they fell behind with licence applications as well.

Carawaystick

Who gets the revenue from licenses?
Did the councils keep it last month?

MiCrOMaN1

Is it still possible to get the paper licenses?

BuffyBot

No, it isn't.

Losty Dublin

Carawaystick wrote: »

Who gets the revenue from licenses?
Did the councils keep it last month?

Revenue get it but I gather that the cost of a licence barely covered the cost of issuing the licence itself and the paperwork.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Carawaystick

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Indeed, they make no money from them.

Have you a source for this?

What's the materials cost?
How many could one person make in an hour?
What's the hourly rate?

When I got my provisional license it took (rounding up) ten minutes
So you could sell six licenses@25 euros an hour or 150 euros an hour per clerk

There's jam there, either the staff are getting it or the materials suppliers are

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.