Motorists are paying up to €25million a year in new licence and renewal fees to the National Driving Licence Service (NDLS).
The Irish Mirror has seen records that show the NDLS collected €189,341,043 from 19th January 2013 to 31st December 2021.
It scooped €25,650,710 in 2019, while this fell to € 19,841,518 in 2020 because of Covid.
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And a spokesman for the NDLS’s parent, the Road Safety Authority, confirmed that the massive funds are ploughed back into the cash-rich NDLS to pay for the service.
The cost of a regular licence is €55, it costs the same to replace it and there is a discounted rate of €35 for some categories of drivers.
The NDLS processed a total of 5,381,460 licences in the nine years above.
Complaints about waiting times and facilities at NDLS driving centres have been rife in recent years, despite the new revelation that it gets up to half a million euro a week from motorists struggling to keep their own cars on the road.
Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy, received the information from the Department of Transport through a Parliamentary Question.
Ms Murphy told the Irish Mirror last night some of the huge money being collected by the NDLS every week should be diverted into providing better services and facilities.
She said: “The scale of income since 2013 is quite significant.
“While the RSA is now supposed to be self-financing from these funds I'd like to see a clearer investment in its service output.
“During the Covid restrictions we saw backlogs accumulate for those waiting for driving tests, some people are still waiting for those tests, while the buildings in which tests were operated from did not have a real mitigating alternative plan to deal with social distancing, bar really reducing the numbers that could use the facilities on site.”
Motorists complained throughout Covid that waiting rooms and toilets were completely inadequate at NDLS centres.
A spokesman for the RSA confirmed to the Mirror that the funds are pumped back into the service when we asked him.
He said: “Yes, the income collected from licence applications since the inception of the NDLS has gone to defray the cost of providing the service.”
Another spokesman said in response to Ms Murphy’s PQ: “The Road Safety Authority became responsible for the driver licensing service with effect from 19 January 2013.
“The RSA took on sole operational responsibility from 28 October 2013; between 19 January and 28 October 2013, local authority, Motor Taxation Offices continued to process applications for driver licences and learner permits. RSA licence income for 2013 reflected the fact that local authorities were funded for the delivery of the application processing service.”
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