Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that the Council, at its meeting on 2nd February, had passed the following motion, which had been moved by Alderman R. Patterson and seconded by Alderman Kingston:

Notice of Motion

Northern Ireland Driving Licences

Moved by Alderman R. Patterson,

Seconded by Alderman Kingston,

      “This Council:

1.      expresses concern at the way in which the decision was taken by SDLP Environment Ministers to exclude Northern Ireland from the reforms currently taking effect in relation to the appearance of the Union flag on UK driving licences;

2.      believes that such a decision is likely to harm community relations and cause hurt and  offence to those citizens who would like to see such changes apply to their own driving licence;

3.      calls upon the Minister to reverse his position and allow the changes to be implemented here;

4.      believes that if the Minister is unwilling to embrace such change he should, as an absolute minimum, introduce an ‘opt out’ scheme, whereby those who do not want to have the flag appear on their licence can choose not to have it and everyone else can; and

5.      recognises that failure to implement such a scheme would be unfair to those citizens who want the Union Flag to appear on their driving licence.”

            The Committee was advised that a letter had been forwarded subsequently to the Environment Minister, Mr. Mark H. Durkan MLA informing him of the Council’s decision.  A response had been received on 18th February.

            In his response, the Minister had pointed that Great Britain and Northern Ireland driving Licences were issued by separate and independent licensing authorities and that there was no UK licensing authority.  In Northern Ireland, that function was transferred, under the Northern Ireland Act 1988, to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Department of the Environment had granted responsibility under the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 for a range of matters relating to the licensing of drivers, including the form of driving licence.

            The Minister had then referred to correspondence which had, in 2012, been forwarded by the Department for Transport Minister, Mike Penning MP, to the then Environment Minister, Alex Attwood MLA, advising him of the Government’s intentions to display the Union Flag only on driving licences issued in Great Britain.  Minister Penning had proposed, giving the sensitivities around symbols that the D.V.L.A. continued to print under contract Northern Ireland driving licences without any change to their existing design and had sought the Environment Minister’s views in the regard.  Minister Durkan had pointed out further that the Department of the Environment officials had, subsequently, engaged with the D.V.L.A. to determine if it would be possible to offer applicants from Northern Ireland the option of either including or excluding the Union Flag from their licence.  It had confirmed that the cost of making the required changes to the existing system to cater for Northern Ireland applicants would render that suggestion prohibited.

            The Minister had concluded by stating the Department of the Environment had received no further correspondence on the matter until the receipt on 23rd December, 2014, that a letter from the current Department for Transport Minister, John Hayes MP, confirming that driving licences for Great Britain could continue to display the Union Flag and be excluded from those licences printed by the D.V.L.A. for Northern Ireland drivers.

            The Committee noted receipt of the response from the Minister.