Online driving licence renewal

Thing is - quite a lot of people, let's say middle-aged folk who've worked all their lives and never had reason to claim social welfare, have zero need for a PSC in their day-to-day lives.

Heck, the passport guys can do it online without a PSC - can't be that difficult, can it?

I am surprised they are still insisting on the card for this considering the ruling by the Data Protection Commission.

No basis in law

A report by the Data Protection Commission found there was no basis in law for public bodies to insist that people accessing services have the card outside of the Department of Social Protection, which could demand it to access payments.

In the same mess here.

went to register for mygov, looks like I cant because PSC is out of date.

So. Apply for PSC to apply for MyGov to apply for licence renewal.

Life's too short for this ****............:)

I think if I apply for an appointment I dont need any of them to renew.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

It's a complete unmitigated disaster and the private SWISS company running it should have their licence revoked immediately.

My 10 year licence expired during Covid. The NDLS sent out an email saying that they were extending my licence by 10 months and that they would notift the Gardai and the insurance companies.

i was abroad earlier this year. I had hired and paid for a car in advance. The car hire company wouldn't let me have the car as my licence was out of date. It cost me a fortune getting to where I wanted to go and my holiday was spoilt because i hadn't got a car. And then the trouble and expense of getting back to the airport.

This is a private sector for profit company. Governement departments stayed open during the pandemic and continued to operate.

NDLS just closed down and feck the customers. They were getting paid and didn't give a fiddlers about the people they were well paid by the state and the customer to deal with. The so called efficiency of the private sector - my arse.

I can renew my passport online. Why cant I renew my driving licence online? And even now, everywhere else in the Country is back working normally, but I can't apply for my replacement driving licence until much later this year - 3 months before the new expiry date they have given me.

I eventually managed to get a letter off them that they say I can use in addition to my licence when I'm abroad next. It took them over 3 weeks to issue it. They don't bother to employ enough staff for the workload they have. Cheaper to stay under staffed, blame everything on Covid and save a fortune on the wage bill, which goes straight to the companys bottom line.

I forsee a lot more people caught over the summer with expired driving licences and they'll only discover the problem when they arrive at the car hire desk at a foreign airport. Anyone who has experience of the hard sell tactics at these deske will know what to expect.

You attempting to defending and offering an erronious and ill informed opinion about a company that you have obviously no or very little experience or knowledge about.

Are you sure you're not a shill for the NDLS. You certainly sound like one. You may have had good experience, but I haven't and iI can caterorically state that they are totally and utterly incompetent.

And for your information my extension does not run out until much later this year, si I cannot renew it until after the Summer.

I'm an end user of the licence. The NDLS are supposed to be the professionals in regards to licences, and to forsee the problems that will arise from their decision to close down applications for renewal of 10 year licences. They decided to close their renewals because of Covid. Did other agencies acting for the Government close down. Post Office, Government departments, etc. They certainly did not. But the NDLS obviously decided it would be cheaper for them to close than to stay open and deal with the matters they are paid to deal with (by the users and the State). I'd be very surprised if they didn't claimed the PUP payments off the State as well. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Just for your information, here's the response the NDLS sent to my local TD Jack Chambers in response to his representation. I'm sure if it was as easy as you foolishly seem to think to get a new licence, they would have advised Mt Chambers of that fact

Dear Deputy Chambers,

In reply to your correspondence regarding XXXXXX.

Drivers can apply for a Driver Statement / Letter of Entitlement if they are intending to drive in a foreign country on a licence with an extended expiry as a result of Covid19.

Where a driving licence has been extended and the licence holder is travelling abroad and wishes to drive, they can obtain a Driver Statement/Letter of Entitlement from the National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) to show the new expiry date of their driving licence.

EU countries will recognise a driving licence where the period of validity has expired up to the end of the extension period granted by the issuing Member State. For licences that have been extended, drivers should check with car hire companies in advance of travelling to see if a driver statement is required.

“While EU countries will recognise a driving license with an extended expiry date, a Driver Statement from the NDLS is available free of charge to those who may be driving outside the EU or where car hire companies state this as a requirement.”

A Letter of Entitlement or Driver Statement is a copy of your driver record with details of name, address, date of birth, driver number, date of expiry of licence and class of licence.

Drivers can request a Letter of Entitlement / Driver Statement free of charge by phoning the National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) at 076 1087880 or emailing info@ndls.ie. It will take three to four days for the request to be processed and posted out to a driver.

If you wish you can also reply to this email with XXXXXXXX's Driver Number, and we will issue same by post directly to him.

A driving licence or learner permit can only be renewed within 3 months of the expiry date. If you already hold a driving licence, you cannot apply for a renewal of your licence more than 3 months before the date of expiry of your current licence. 

The requirement is provided for in legislation SI 537/2006 Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006. Article 12(3)

The blanket extension to driving licences was granted to facilitate our customers. We sincerely regret if it has caused you any inconvenience.

Please see below link in relation to travelling to an EU country on holiday, available on our website

https://www.ndls.ie/help/faq.html#my-licence-was-extended-and-i-am-travelling-to-an-eu-country-on-holidays-will-i-be-covered-to-drive-on-my-irish-licence

Miriam Scott

1. The NDLS say that they can issue this letter that you can produce to the car hire company within 3/4 days. Total deliberate lie. I was waiting over 3 weeks.

2 NDLS recommend that you contact the car hire company in advance to see if they will accept their letter. That's a total cop out and totally impractical and they know it.

Like many thousands of others, I use sites like Doyouspain and Ryanair. These search through all the car hire companies and offer you a car at the cheapest rate availabe. That offer is valid for about 10 minutes and then it expires and it's gone. Try again and you may get an offer from another company, with a different price.

And of course, NDLS are convienently also ignoring the language barrier. What are the chances of the person answering the phone being able to speak English well enough to understand a relatively complex question.