Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Okay, I thank Ms McPhillips for that.

I want to talk through a specific issue my office has been dealing with. We have been banging our heads against the wall for a long time. It might be a niche issue, but if we addressed it we could get a good result for people in a short space of time. It is around qualified bus drivers coming in from South Africa. There are people who are English language speakers, trained individuals used to driving on the left-hand side of this road, but they have to go through this process and the process from start to finish takes about three months. We end up with people who are much-needed sitting and doing nothing for a period of three months, which is not what any of us want. People coming in have to go through a process of getting a work permit and they must have all their documentation. In order to exchange their South African licence for an Irish licence people need the Irish residence permit. To get the Irish residence permit people must either present to Burgh Quay in Dublin or there is a network of offices throughout the country. I believe there is a big improvement at Burgh Quay and it is down to two weeks, but outside Dublin people are waiting two to three months for Kilkenny and about three months for Limerick. Then people had another three weeks to get a physical card.