Vol. 443 No. 6
53 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment if local authorities have discretion in granting full driving licences where the two year period for the certificate of competency has been exceeded by a few days at a time of known and accepted postal delays; and if he will make a statement on the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9 whose application was received two days late.
The period of validity of a certificate of competency is fixed by article 26 of the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1989, as two years after the date of issue. The regulations provide no discretion to the licensing authority to extend that period. The person to whom the question relates was issued with a certificate of competency on 11 December 1991 and, accordingly, its period of validity extended to 11 December 1993 only. Her application to the licensing authority for a driving licence on foot of that certificate was postmarked 12 December 1993 when the certificate had ceased to be valid.
