Seven years after asking, gardaí cannot access driving licence photos

Gardaí still lack access to driving licence photographs through their roadside mobility devices, seven years after first asking and a year after a formal request was made to the Department of Transport.New road traffic legislation introduced in the Dáil had been expected to include a provision to give access to photographs and drivers’ signatures through the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF), but the measure was omitted.Officers involved in checkpoints have described access to photographs as crucial, because if a driver does not produce their driving licence, officers cannot verify their identity if they give a false name or date of birth.The Bill includes a provision to scrap paper tax discs, along with updating and modernising the NVDF, Ireland’s central database containing details of all registered vehicles, licensed drivers and permit holders.READ MOREGardaí first requested photograph access in 2019 when roadside mobility devices were introduced across the force. Motorists are obliged to carry their licences but otherwise have 10 days to produce it at a designated Garda station. Failure to do so can result in a court summons.Susan Gray of Parc road safety campaign group said it was “ludicrous that a year after gardaí formally made a request to the department it still hasn’t decided. “How many drivers have got away who should be off the road?” Gray added: “Gardaí have to deal with it on the spot or the opportunity is gone and the driver is let think it’s so easy to continue driving while disqualified or close to maximum penalty points, because they can lie to gardaí without sanction.”The road safety campaigner questioned “how many more months will motorists be let drive on because Transport drags their heels for a year over closing this very dangerous loophole in the law”.A department spokesperson said it had sought legal advice which will guide it “in determining the position on the sharing of the data requested”.Asked for comment on the exclusion of photo access in the Bill, Garda headquarters said it did not comment on proposed legislation or reviews of legislation.However, at an Oireachtas Transport Committee meeting in July, Assistant Commissioner Catharina Gunne said the matter was “a complex issue in relation to the GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation]”.Asked by committee chairman Michael Murphy why the photographs and signatures were necessary, she said “it means that when you are at a checkpoint, the gardaí can verify that you are the driver”. In March, Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney confirmed in a parliamentary reply to Fine Gael TD Emer Currie: “An Garda Síochána wrote to my department in September 2025 to outline their view of the necessity and lawful basis for the inclusion of driving licence photographs and signatures in the NVDF data sharing.” He said the department “is in the process of seeking legal advice to confirm the position with regard to sharing of the photo”.[ Conor Brady: Gardaí spending their time peering at NCT discs is one symptom of a wider problemOpens in new window ]The Dublin West TD asked the same question a number of times over the following months and got similar responses, and in September the Minister said “the photo is a particularly sensitive piece of personal data”.They would be “guided by the legal advice in determining the position on the sharing of the data requested”. He expected that when enacted the legislation “may facilitate the exchange of the photo, subject to the legal advice once received and considered, if further legislative certainty is required on this matter”.