Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am aware the Minister of State's recent visit to Canton in the US. I also visited the US recently to attend a wedding. During my visit I had a meeting with Mayor Marty Walsh regarding the undocumented Irish and he assured me that Boston will retain its sanctuary status in that regard. As the Minister of State will be aware Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco are cities of immigrants. During my visit, I also met a number of Irish people working in the trade area whose driving licences are nearing expiration. These people need to be able to drive to get to their places of work. When a person is stopped by the police in the United States, the first thing he or she will be asked for is a driving licence. If that person does not have a driving licence, he or she is arrested. The point was made to me by these people that when their passports expire, they can apply by post to the consulate office for a new one - everybody knows that a passport is a more valuable document than a driver's licence - but when their driver's licence expires, they cannot renew it because they are required to return home and present themselves at a driving centre to get it. In reply to a parliamentary question to the Minister on this issue, I was told that a person living abroad in a particular country for a specific period should be able to obtain a driver's licence in that country. Unfortunately, undocumented people, particularly in the United States, do not have a social security number and so they cannot produce the documentation required to get a driver's licence.

Many people are living in fear because their driver's licences are due to expire. I have asked the Minister to look into undocumented Irish people in the US being permitted to apply to the consulate office for a driver's licence, as they do in respect of passport renewals. I do not know why a person has to present in person to pick up a driver's licence. That appears to me to be a little crazy given one can get a passport through the post from anywhere in the world. It should be possible for people to renew their driver's licence at any of the Irish consulate offices throughout the United States. I accept that this is not a matter relevant to today's discussion but it is an issue I would like the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to examine. This is a serious issue for the undocumented in the United States which needs to be addressed jointly by the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Transport, Tourism and Sport. I ask the Minister of State to ask his officials to contact the officials in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to see if some resolution can be found to this issue.