Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Can I add to that, Mr. Walsh, please, with Deputy Lowry’s indulgence? This is coming up for us all of the time with bringing in drivers, in particular, from the South African area.

We have had a look at the process and there are two elements to this. Companies must apply for a visa through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment for the driver. Our understanding is that the Department will go to the RSA, which will then contact the authorities in South Africa to check that the licence is in order before the Department will issue a visa. Yet, when the drivers get the visa and comes to Ireland, they can only then apply for the exchange of their licence, that is, when they are physically present in Ireland, and the RSA seems to go through the exact same process again, when in fact the authority has done the due diligence on the licence in order for the visa to be issued. The South African drivers come to Ireland, they have to get a personal public service number and a public services card, and then have to do test training. More particularly, before they can do anything, they must get the RSA to exchange the licence. That is taking inordinate time. Why is the authority doing this given it has done the due diligence work when the visa application was being made? From the operators we are dealing with, it appears that the authority is duplicating on this work.