Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 570: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will examine the possibility of allowing persons who lost their licences to use their cars to travel to work as is the case in Australia. [37064/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the driver licensing regime is to ensure that people who drive on our roads reach a minimum level of knowledge and skills necessary to drive safely. In most cases, drivers improve as they gain experience. Unfortunately, not all licensed drivers behave responsibly. It is therefore necessary to have in place legal mechanisms whereby drivers who behave in a seriously irresponsible way may have sanctions imposed on them, including the withdrawal of their licences for a period. These sanctions would have little effect if we allowed drivers whose licences had been withdrawn because of serious violations of the law to continue to drive on our roads.

While we can often learn valuable lessons from other jurisdictions, I do not propose to follow the example cited by the Deputy in this particular case. It is worth adding that, in Australia, driver licensing is a matter for the individual States rather than the national Government, and I understand than not all States follow the practice referred to by the Deputy.