Pa Daly
Question:326. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to a matter (details supplied) and his plans to the address the matter. [9210/26]
View answerTuesday, 10 February 2026
Questions (326)
Written answers
As Minister of State for International & Road Transport, Logistics, Rail & Ports I wish to advise that all enquiries relating to driver licensing are handled by the National Driver Licence Service, the provision of which I have delegated under national legislation to the Road Safety Authority. Neither I nor the Department have any role in driving licence applications.
I have referred this matter to the Authority for direct reply. Please contact my office if a reply has not been received from the RSA in the next ten days
If an applicant completes their D category driving test in a vehicle with automatic transmission, they will be issued with a licence for driving automatic transmission vehicles only unless the applicant already holds a driving licence for driving manual transmission vehicles in any of the categories B, BE, C, CE, C1, C1E, D, DE, D1 or D1E and have demonstrated during the test driving in such a way as to ensure safety and to reduce fuel consumption and emissions during acceleration, deceleration, uphill and downhill driving, when necessary by selecting gears manually.
To drive heavy duty vehicles professionally in Ireland, a driver also needs a certificate of professional competence (CPC).
The overriding goal of these requirements is the objective of keeping Irish roads as safe as possible for all road users.
A referred reply was forwarded to the Deputy under Standing Orders.