The Department of Transport Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) has published its annual Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics for the year 2019. The bulletin is the result of a broad analysis of the national vehicle fleet and contains statistical tables covering:
- The size, composition, age and fuel type of vehicles;
- Details on the first licensing of new and imported used vehicles;
- The number of current driving licenses in each local authority;
Some Key Statistics:
- The total number of licensed (taxed) vehicles recorded on Irish roads at the 31st December 2019 is 2,805,839. This represents an increase of 88,117 vehicles (3.24%) on the previous year. The main components of the vehicle fleet include 2,174,779 private cars, 366,760 goods vehicles, 75,863 agricultural tractors, 50,447 vintage vehicles and 42,492 motorcycles.
- In the passenger car category, the number of vehicles at 2,174,779 represents an increase from 2,106,369 in the previous year (3.25% increase).
- A total of 1,583,441 passenger cars are now taxed based on their Co2 emissions rating. This represents an increase of 197,233 (14.23%) units on the previous year figures and the CO2 based vehicles now represents 72.81% of the overall passenger car fleet. There are 88.35% of vehicles based in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ CO2 bands less than 141 g/km.
- A total of 149,748 new vehicles were licensed, a decrease of 8,117 on the previous year figure. 137,196 imported used vehicles were licensed in 2019, an increase of 11,322 (8.99%), on the 2018 figure.
- 366,760 goods vehicles were registered in 2019, compared to 355,273 units in 2018 (+11,487 +3.23%).
- 33.7% of vehicles use petrol while 63.7% operate on diesel.
- 74.5% of private cars are 4 years old and over while 60% are 6 years old and over.
- 71% of goods vehicles are 4 years old and over while 57.5% are 6 years old and over.
- There were 3.047 million current driving licences at 31st December 2019. 92.35% held full licenses. There were 233,025 Learner Permits, a decrease of 7,039 on the 2018 figure.