Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Question 635: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason a person that is returning to Ireland to start in a new job with both an Irish and an English provisional driving licence and having completed 40 hours of driving instructions in England all logged cannot use these lessons as part of their requirements for a driving test here; his plans to change this situation and to ensure that driving lessons taken in England will be recognised here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28129/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Under measures which I introduced last year as part of the Graduated Driver Licensing system, learner drivers in Ireland must now take a course of twelve mandatory lessons before doing the driving test. The requirements are set out in the Road Traffic (Courses of Instruction) (Learner Permit Holders) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 173 of 2011).

The Regulations specify in detail the contents of the required lessons, and also that these lessons must be taken with an Approved Driving Instructor, i.e. a person entered in the Register of Approved Driving Instructors maintained under Regulation 17 of the Road Traffic (Driving Instructor Licensing) (No. 2) Regulations 2009 (S.I. No. 203 of 2009). These Regulations are aimed, inter alia, at guaranteeing standards over which Ireland has control in terms of the lessons covered and the qualifications of the instructors. As matters stand, all learners are required to take the same set of lessons with an instructor whose qualifications we can verify. Lessons taken in another jurisdiction, while they may be of use to the learner, do not meet these requirements, and of course do not take account of particular aspects of driving in Ireland, such as Irish Rules of the Road or signage rules.