THE MINISTER FOR Transport Shane Ross and the Road Safety Authority have said there will be a phased return for some services for drivers from Monday 8 June.

Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced that from Monday, ‘Phase Two Plus’ would begin in Ireland, as well as accelerated Ireland’s plan for reopening.

From Monday, 15 National Car Testing (NCT) service centres will reopen.

These include Little Island and Blarney in Cork; and Northpoint 1 & 2, Deansgrange, and Fonthill in Dublin.

The other centres open from Monday are Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Letterkenny, Athlone, Ballina, Naas, Drogheda, Derrybeg.

The re-opening of more test centres will be announced in the coming weeks and updates will be posted on www.ncts.ie. 

If you have more questions about the NCT, a Q&A document can be found here.

The phased reopening of the National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) will also begin from Monday, 8 June – with the reopening of 20 centres initially.

These are: Carlow, Cavan, Citywest, Clarehall, Cork, Drogheda, Ennis, Galway, Kilkenny, Leopardstown, Letterkenny, Limerick, Longford, Monaghan, Naas, Roscommon, Santry, Trim, Waterford, Wicklow.

with the rest reopening later in June. Updates will be posted on www.ndls.ie and www.rsa.ie

If you have more questions about the NDLS, a Q&A document can be found here. 

The Driver Theory Test (DTT) will also resume on Monday, with the opening of all 43 centres around the country.

Updates can be found on www.dtt.ie and www.rsa.ie 

 If you have more questions about the DTT, a Q&A document can be found here.  

Some of the conditions that will apply to services re-opening include:

• Customers must make an appointment in advance to avail of any service. No walk-in appointments will be accommodated. This will be kept under review.
• All services must be paid for with credit / debit cards. No cash will be taken.
• Social distancing should always be maintained.
• Anyone wishing to use these services are reminded that they are subject to the Government’s current restriction on travel.

Transport Minister Shane Ross said: “While I am pleased to announce the gradual resumption of these services, people do need to understand that things will be different.

This is to ensure we continue to protect the health and well-being of both staff and the public. This must remain the overriding priority. Therefore, the delivery of these services will be subject to measures designed to mitigate against the spread of Covid-19.

Minister Ross continued: “As I extended the validity of various certificates and licences relating to these services on 28 March for periods up four months, the greatest demand from the public for these services has been reduced in the short term.

“However, I believe it is important that the RSA’s services continue the gradual process of reopening, so we can contribute to the process of reopening Ireland’s economy and society.”

“I am also acutely aware that some people do need to avail of these services now. For example, there are vehicle owners who were affected by the ‘vehicle lift’ issue at the NCTS and who need to complete their test.”

On learner drivers, Ross said: “I appreciate that learner drivers will be anxious to know when driving tests will become available again. There are challenges to overcome in order to re-open this service fully.

While I do see the possibility of truck, bus and motorcycle testing resuming, in Phase 3, there are issues to overcome to recommence car driving tests.

These challenges include maintaining social distancing as a car driving test means close contact in an enclosed space between the driver tester and the learner driver for periods in excess of 15 minutes. I can assure learner drivers that officials in my Department and the RSA are looking at all available options to get car driving tests started again as soon as possible.

The Minister asked that people would be patient as these services resume.