Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. It is all very well to give our emigrants abroad the opportunity to vote in our presidential elections - I welcome it - but there is an issue regarding driver licences, particularly in the sanctuary cities in the Unites States. Last year I attended a wedding in the United States where a number of Irish people came up to me. Their biggest issue was that they cannot renew their Irish driver's licence. The passport card is not a driver's licence. When pulled in in the United States, the first thing a person is asked for is his or her driver's licence. Most young Irish people in the United States are carpenters or labourers, etc. and they have to have a vehicle for work. Some of them have been arrested. The most important document a person has is his or her passport and an application can be made online, through An Post and by ordinary post. However, this is not possible with a driver's licence.

Recently in Australia, a young person's wallet was stolen with his driver's licence in it. He turned up for work on the Monday morning but could not work because his job was driving. He had to come home to get his driver's licence renewed and fly back out again. It is one of the biggest issues affecting the young undocumented in the United States. I will finish on a point that we have raised in the foreign affairs committee. Deputy Joe McHugh, who is the Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora, is working on this through an interdepartmental group. Will the Minister get the message to the Taoiseach to find a solution to the issue so that people can apply online?

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