Road Safety Authority Ireland Anmeldelser 

I lost my European driving licence but had not cancelled it. I applied online to exchange it for an Irish licence (I had previously held an Irish licence before obtaining my European one).

During the application, I was asked whether I had my licence to hand in. I answered "No" and was taken straight to the €65 payment page, with no clear warning that not having the physical licence could affect the application.

After waiting about three weeks with no updates, I booked an appointment at the Limerick office. The staff member was friendly, but told me there was nothing he could do without the physical licence. He compared my situation to another customer exchanging an Italian licence who was able to hand in their original licence, asking why my case should be treated differently. He also said I should never have been able to apply online and that I wasn't entitled to a refund.

I then called the helpline, where a very helpful lady explained that although refunds weren't possible, I could still exchange my licence by providing proof from the issuing authority that it was still valid. I obtained the confirmation from my local road authority, uploaded it, and my application was approved within a few days.

The whole process was unnecessarily stressful due to poor communication and conflicting information from different staff members. My experience showed that the telephone support team had a much better understanding of the procedures than the office staff I dealt with. If you've lost your license, don't assume there's no solution—contact the helpline and ask about alternative evidence, as your application may still be approved.

Of all the services in Ireland NDLS is by far the worst and slowest, I was getting address change on my License and woman said I’d have it within 15 days, it took 3 months before I got it back,
Also recently over a month ago I renewed license categories and it’s now over 1 month and still not received what I paid a lot of money for and provided medical, if only Motor tax office still did licences they were quick and good service unlike NDLS. 😡

absolutely terrible service from NDLS.

My learner permit was approved on the 3 May 2026 and, as instructed, updated my address through MyGovID/MyWelfare the same day. I even emailed NDLS immediately to confirm that the permit would be sent to the correct updated address.

They never replied to that email. Over a 40 days later later, I finally get a response upon asking saying the permit was dispatched on 21 May — to my old address.

So despite me updating the address well in advance, contacting them specifically to prevent this exact issue, and waiting weeks for a reply, they still sent an important government document to the wrong place.

The response I received was also completely unhelpful, basically telling me to update my address, which I had already done before the permit was even dispatched. It feels like nobody actually read the case history or checked the information properly.

Really frustrating experience, awful communication, and unacceptable turnaround time. I now have to chase them again to get a replacement sent to the correct address, because of an error that should have been avoided in the first place.

I submitted my cert of competency to receive my license over 3 months ago and the ndls have done absolutely nothing to help, supervisors never call back and nobody seems to know what they’re doing, I passed my test in February and I still don’t have my license in June! Absolutely abysmal service needs a complete rework

My daughter sat and passed her theory test one month before turning 17. She received her licence and began driving lessons at 18, however her instructor was unable to upload her lesson details online.

After contacting the NDLS, we were informed that because she passed her theory test before turning 17, she had only been issued with a Category W licence rather than the correct Category B. We then had to pay an additional fee to have the proper category added.

Following this, and after receiving the updated licence, her instructor still could not upload her lessons. We contacted the NDLS again and were told that, despite paying to change the licence to Category B, their system still shows her as Category W. We have now been informed that she must renew the licence again and pay another fee.

This entire process has been extremely frustrating and disorganised. We should not be expected to pay twice due to errors within the NDLS system.

Needed to renew my license, went to the web site at 11am, had appointment same day at 3.50 in Santry.
Took all the documents, was seen at 3.40, license done at 3.50.
Great service, cannot fault.

Is there only one person approving licence applications in the whole of Ireland?! Do they only work 9-10am one day a month?!

It should not take over a month for a licence application to be approved. Once you pass your test, you should be legally able to drive. Like every other country in the world.

Like everything in Ireland, it has to be some insanely complicated process and all about money. €85 for the test, €65 for the licence, and then €70 for a doctor to FILL OUT A PRINTED FORM because I have anxiety. Even though I only just submitted one less than a year ago.

NDLS and RSA is obviously ran by a bunch of incompetent people only interested in lining their own pockets and trying to make themselves look busy by creating a bunch of additional steps to getting a licence.

You cannot blame COVID, it was just as bad before COVID. But again, like everything in Ireland, it is embarrassingly slow and not fit for purpose.

My advice: fire the old farts up top and hire more people to do the work that actually matters.

Utilise tech and AI! It’s not as scary as you clearly think it is! Printed forms?! “file size too large” / “we can’t see your email as the file is too large”. Seriously?! Why does a person need to manually approve this as well?!

Maybe all get together and figure out what the correct information is. “It will take 10 days” / “it will take 30 days” / “it will be approved in 2-3 days”. Which is it?!

very poor customer service regarding reissuing a lost license, arrogant and don't want to help at all.
a very public sector attitude.

Giving one star as it won’t let me give zero.

Replaced UK license with Irish one. Unknown to me the harp watermark was missing. Went to Cork to do my CPC exam, spent over €100 only to be told my license is damaged and I couldn’t do the exam and had to forfeit the €72 fee.

Walked the length of Cork to get a form signed by a gard saying my license was damaged. Submitted to NDLS online and rebooked CPC and paid another €72.

Next day got an email saying as there was one line missing from the address on the form (a line which is optional for my address) they could not accept the form and I had to get another. Went to the Garda station, got another form, sent it in and had no update for 4 days.

Phoned NDLS, explained the urgency and the agent said the photo file was too big and to send a PDF and call back. Did that. Called back and spoke to an agent who was completely clueless. Took all my details several times, didn’t understand my query and kept asking for my application reference. When she finally got into my case she was reading the update from a week ago. Beyond useless.

Now I am waiting to go to an appointment in person later today , but given my exam is Wednesday and there will be no post on Tuesday as it’s Paddy’s day, I have next to no hope of getting the license on time. So that’s another €72 wasted and my employment that depends on the license will likely be lost as well.

Nothing changes in this country.

Update 12/3. I booked an appointment at the local NDLS centre, the person there was very nice and helpful but couldn’t do anything as my online application was still pending. So now I am stuck , at the mercy of a place which hasn’t looked at my application in a week, and although I have managed to change my CPC exam to a later date again, over 3 hours drive from my house, I have zero confidence that I will have my license in time.

It is beyond belief that you can’t effectively escalate or complain - they are basically checking their own homework and you get nowhere. Some lazy work-shy agent looked at my application a week ago, decided the photo file was too large (even though it was the same as the previous one they WERE able to open), closed the ticket and didn’t have the decency to advise me by email. It’s cost me hundreds of euro and a lot of stress.

Update 2 - 12/3.
Having phoned again and reiterated the urgency and frustration I was advised by an agent that age would flag my ticket as urgent. All they needed to do was inspect the Lost Damaged License form and approve it.

I gave just received an email confirming it has been approved.

Google says using a MyGov ID online the the fastest way to apply, but the person in the local NDLS centre said it’s quicker in person as they can immediately verify your documents.

I feel sorry for the staff who do their best and no doubt get awful verbal abuse due to the inefficiency of the organisation as a whole. I still think it needs to be audited or even looked at by Primr Time Investigates. People’s livelihoods depend on getting their license on time and the delays cause mush stress and suffering.

Did the change of address on6th Dec 2025 - replacement got lost in the post - filled out the form to outline this and many many phone calls later still not got the new licence by mid Feb 2026.
Total joke of a system and no one has a clue what they are at when you ring.
How can they justify such a rubbish system and service in this day and age .
Would give them zero star if I could.
NDLS should just hang their head in shame and whom ever is ment to be in charge so just except their P45 and leave the mess that is the NDLs.

5 star review for Bride in the monaghan NDLS office. So helpful and kind to my daughter. Thank you Bride!

The worst state body in the developed world

I've been trying to get a full car license for years. Multiple test cancellations, incompetent instructors, and technicalities designed to take your money, they don't care about what kind of service they provide.

Here's 2 examples of many I've experienced:

1. I tried to renew a learner license with my new home address. They didn't accept any of the official documents I have received here (including a public services card from the Irish government that arrived here). Instead of allowing me to change to my older address, they made me wait days for a cancellation, then reapply at the full price with an address I don't even reside at anymore.

2. For the driving test itself (after 3 cancellations in a row,, on the day with 0 explanation as to why) and an 8 month wait, I drove to a far away test centre to have my test non-conducted due to a tax disc which hadn't arrived yet. The car was taxed, but it didn't have a paper disc. Paper discs have been abolished as a legal requirement by the Irish government.

They claimed to have driving test wait times down to 10 weeks, but in reality they pushed retests to the back of the queue, and a freedom of information request recently exposed the RSA as liars.

The RSA are an embarrassment to the Irish government and for a country like Ireland, we deserve a lot better. I can't wait for the day the RSA get abolished.

Currently on hold with Adrian for the past 17 minutes, assuming he's hoping I just hang up. A simple request of an email confirming my driver's statement so that I can insure my vehicle before the 24 hour quote runs out is apparently too much of an ask. Abhorrent customer service.

Utterly incompetent organisation. I applied online for an exchange of an EU for an Irish licence and paid €65 fee. Next step was FOR THEM to send me a declaration form for completion and return along with my existing EU licence. I never received this form and carefully checked spam folder in case. I have not phoned their help desk three times with a very simple request to send me the form. For some inexplicable reason they cannot oblige. They advised me to send in my existing licence WITHOUT the declaration, ignoring the formal online instructions. I am not prepared to take the risk with this entirely informal advice.

Their online help desk is equally useless. The automated reply after several queries is “ I apologize for any confusion. As an AI assistant, I don't have access to specific application details or forms. For issues with your application or to request specific forms, please contact our customer service team directly at 0818 700 800 or +353 21 462 4810. They're available 9-5pm Mon-Fri and 9-1pm Sat (excluding public holidays) and can assist you with your application.”

I would be ashamed to work for such an incompetent organisation.

Fantastic service by the staff of NDLS. I could not fault them at all.

The NDLS are a shockly bad organisation that are unhelpful , lack the knowledge to process the application for an exchange licence correctly. Unware of the way the country exchanging the licence works and their favorite word is escalate but nobody actually does any escalating of the issue. Truly abysmal service
albeit a handsomely paid abysmal service

NDLS email support team takes such a hands-off approach to tickets customers escalate with them. I can tolerate the long delays in their replies as I understand they may be understaffed but the lack of real support in resolving issues is appalling. I’ve been stuck in a carousel of back-and-forth emails for over two months now trying to sort out my licence issue with no resolution in sight.

NDLS the worst institution I have ever seen!!!
I spent two months getting a Lerner permit and 1.5 months getting a full driving licence. Lying operators..... ...ck

Stella looked after my husband and myself a very pleasant experience she was most helpful and polite
it was seamless she explained everything in great detail

RSA is a joke. NDLS is a joke. Had both rude driving testers and rude customer service providers when contacted NDLS. No wonder they get such bad rep. It’s like going round in circles where new legislation means insurance need driver numbers for new learner drivers before insurance but NDLS employ rude people who couldn’t give a toss about helping retrieve driver numbers when physical license still hasn’t been received. Pity 0 star reviews don’t exist because they deserve nothing more.