The National Transport Authority is licensing authority for the purpose of the legislation.\u00a0 The Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na was \u00a0licensing authority for the purpose of PSV (public service vehicle) licences for drivers until an order is made under the legislation transferring the licensing function.<\/p>\n
It is an offence to provide small public service vehicle services without a licence.\u00a0 A person may not drive or use a vehicle in a public place for carriage of persons for reward without an SPSV driver\u2019s licence which entitles him to do so.\u00a0 A person may not drive or use a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place for carriage of persons for reward without an SPSV vehicle licence. It is an offence to act as a dispatch operator unless duly licensed.<\/p>\n
A person cannot ply or stand for hire in a mechanically propelled vehicle without an SPSV vehicle licence.\u00a0 Contravention of any of the above is an offence.<\/p>\n
The Authority may make regulations in relation to licensing. Regulations regarding PSVs licensing are subject to consultation with the Garda Commissioner and the Advisory Committee.\u00a0 Different regulations may be set for<\/p>\n
It is an offence for a licence holder to give false information under the regulations to the licensing authority.\u00a0 It is an offence to operate or rent a vehicle contrary to conditions and restrictions contained in the licence.<\/p>\n
Regulations may be made regarding assessment of applicants for the purpose of grant of a licence.\u00a0 Requirements and conditions to be specified with the regulations are provided for.<\/p>\n
The Authority for the purpose of assessing an application for licence may authorise or approve a person with regard to their compliance with the level of competence prescribed by standards.<\/p>\n
The Authority can request the Garda Commissioner to carry out an assessment at any time on a person’s suitability to be a licensee.\u00a0 A licence applicant must disclose particulars of his physical and mental capacity to hold a licence.\u00a0 Guidelines may be made by the Authority for this purpose.<\/p>\n
The licensing authority may grant and renew licences on application in accordance with regulations.\u00a0 The application form, documentation required, information and fees are to be prescribed by the Authority.\u00a0 It is an offence to give false and misleading information in connection with an application.<\/p>\n
Certain classes of licences including an \u00a0PSV driver licence may only be granted to an individual.\u00a0 Certain other class of licences may be granted to a company.\u00a0 In the case of licences which may be held by a company, there is provision for change of control.\u00a0 This must be notified to the Authority.<\/p>\n
A tax clearance certificate is required in relation to a licence application and must be submitted annually after that. A licensee must be suitable to hold the licence.\u00a0 The legislation provides for the considerations in assessing suitability by the licensing authority. A licensing authority may if it is satisfied that \u00a0the person is no longer suitable, revoke a licence.<\/p>\n
Prescribed considerations are to be followed and \u00a0taking into account.\u00a0 A licence may be suspended for a period of up to six months.\u00a0 A licensee may be reprimanded, cautioned, warned or advised.<\/p>\n
There is provision for due process in relation to revocation, suspension of licences etc.\u00a0 The licensing authority is to notify the holder, of the proposal and reasons.\u00a0 The same applies to the refusal of an application.\u00a0 It is to consider representations made.\u00a0 Subject to consideration of the representations, the authority may refuse, revoke a licence, suspend it etc.<\/p>\n
The applicant or holder is to be notified in writing of the reasons for the proposed decision.\u00a0 Before the decision becomes final, the applicant may appeal to the District Court within 28 days.\u00a0 The appeal may vary the decision etc.\u00a0 and the decision remains suspended until the appeal is decided. A person may appeal to the District Court against a decision to issue a reprimand, warning, caution or advice above.<\/p>\n
A licence may not be transferred.\u00a0 This is in contrast to the earlier position whereby licences for vehicles were transferred at significant premiums.<\/p>\n
The Authority maintains a register of licences.\u00a0 It may be maintained in electronic form.\u00a0 A certificate may be issued of information in the licence on payment of a prescribed fee.<\/p>\n
Mandatory disqualifications<\/p>\n
There is mandatory disqualification for life, if a person holding a licence is convicted of certain listed offences.\u00a0 In other cases, disqualification is for a set period.\u00a0 There is provision for disqualification from holding a licence on conviction for specified road traffic offence set, for an additional period of years as are specified.<\/p>\n
Where a person is disqualified from holding a licence, an application shall not be considered, nor a licence granted, and any licence held stands revoked.\u00a0 A person disqualified may apply to an appropriate court to be allowed to apply for a licence or to continue to hold a licence.<\/p>\n
The court may grant an application where it is satisfied that the person is a suitable person to hold or apply for a licence.\u00a0 The considerations are set out in the legislation. There is a 12- month period within which a person with a conviction, prior to commencement of the provision \u00a0may make an application to court above.<\/p>\n
There is an obligation on an applicant for licence to inform the licensing Authority of convictions of an offence specified and if so, on what date.\u00a0 It is an offence to breach this obligation.\u00a0 It is an offence in a prosecution that the person took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to comply with the obligation. A person failing to provide information or giving false and misleading information may be subject to a determination to refuse the application or to suspend or revoke a licence.<\/p>\n
The legislation provides for a system of demerit offences.\u00a0 Certain specified offences under the Act are specified as demerit offences.\u00a0 There is provision for demerits to be endorsed on the licence record including in respect of fixed charge notices and payments for alleged offences.\u00a0 There is provision for a number of demerits to be entered on a licence in respect of conviction for a demerit offence.<\/p>\n
Demerits on licence ordinarily remain in effect for three years and are removed.\u00a0 Once the threshold of demerits is reached, a disqualification of three months arises.\u00a0 At the end of the period of disqualification, all demerits endorsed are removed.<\/p>\n\n
The National Transport Authority is licensing authority for the purpose of the legislation.\u00a0 The Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na was \u00a0licensing authority for the purpose of PSV (public service vehicle) licences for drivers until an order is made under the legislation transferring the licensing function. It is an offence to provide small public service vehicle services without a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19273"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19277,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19273\/revisions\/19277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}