Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the comments made by Deputy Grealish. I am dealing with the case of a young girl who is undocumented and living in America. Unfortunately, she lost her driver licence in America. People can replace their passport and buy it online yet the same cannot be done for a driver licence. Local authorities no longer issue driver licences. The National Driver Licence Service, NDLS, has made no effort to accommodate the people abroad who wish to renew their driver licences. People need their driver licences because they need to drive in the United States and elsewhere. The NDLS will not accept it when people say they have mislaid or lost their driver licences. A driver licence will only be issued after people return home, submit an application, have a photograph taken and return to the United States. It is impossible to do all of that, particularly for the 50,000 undocumented Irish who live in the United States. As I said yesterday, many of these people are very concerned and afraid because of what has been done and said by the new regime in the United States. Two cases have been mentioned this morning but many people are affected by this issue.