The Minister for State at the Department of Health and local Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan has said he welcomed the decision to continue the exemption currently in place for Over-70s that ensures that they are not required to submit a medical certificate in order to renew their driving licenses during Covid-19.
“This measure will have an impact in many homes across Sligo, Leitrim, South Donegal and North Roscommon, and I believe that it is a common sense approach in order to ensure that less people are travelling and interacting for administration purposes, and also that our Over-70s are not putting themselves at needleless risk of contracting Covid-19 during this pandemic”.
The Minister of State in the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton TD, has announced that in light of the surge of Covid-19 cases, and in order to ease the burden on medical services, there will be an extension in the exemption that allows for those aged over 70 to apply for a driving licence without the need to provide a medical report.
Minister Feighan stated that “what this means in reality is that that persons of 70 years of age or over can continue to apply for, and renew, their driving licence without the need to submit a medical report, on the condition that they do not have an identified or specified illness and are not applying for a truck or bus category.
“Minister Naughton is extending this measure in order to eliminate the need for our drivers over the age of 70 from having to make an unnecessary journey to their GP, or to the NDLS centre, as we continue to work to minimise social interactions in our efforts to tackle Covid-19”.
Explaining the exemption, which has been extended to June 2021, Minister Naughton said: “All drivers who are over 70 years of age will be contacted directly with an application pack that will allow them to apply for a new licence by post. The NDLS service, which is managed by the RSA, will be sending out application packs to those eligible to apply by post in the coming weeks. The pack will include a partially completed application form that the customer must complete. Those drivers who have the option to apply online can do so at any time at ndls.ie”.
