Irish driver permit holders will breathe a sigh of relief today as a further extension to their expiry dates has been granted by the Minister of State for Transport.
Hildegarde Naughton announced a further 10-month grace period for learners in response to the level 5 restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The extension comes after months of disruption to their driver services leaving many unable to avail of driving lessons, sit driving tests, or renew their learner permit.
Speaking about the extension, Minister Naughton said; "Providing this further 10-month extension to the expiry date to Learner Permits will allow for peace of mind to many learner drivers as they continue to work towards passing their driving test in the months ahead.
"Those who will benefit from this extension don’t need to do anything, our systems will update their records automatically.
"A new learner permit will not be issued to drivers with the new expiry date, rather the electronic driver record will be updated to reflect the new expiry date."
The latest move will see anyone whose learner permit expired on 10 March 2020 have it extended to 10 September 2021, while a person whose permit expires on 15 August 2020 will have a new expiry date of 15 October 2021.
If you have already renewed your permit, and it had an expiry date between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2021 the extension won't apply, and the expiry date of your permit will be as shown on your new permit.
"The RSA has also told Insurance Ireland and An Garda Síochána about the new expiry date of learner permits," Ms. Naughton clarified.
This means that drivers whose learner permit is or has expired between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2021 is being extended by 10 months.
This is in addition to previous extensions granted therefore according to the update;
- Permits that expired between 1 March and 30 June 2020 that were previously extended by 8 months will now be extended by a further 10 months, so 18 months in total
- Permits that expired between 1 July to 31 October 2020 that were previously extended by 4 months will now be extended by a further 10 months, so 14 months in total
- Permits that expired or will expire between 1 November 2020 and 31 July 2021 will be extended for 10 months
