Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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741. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 1390 of 16 April 2013, if he will clarify that the Directives 2006/126/EC and 2011/94/EU do not prevent Ireland from making an innovative decision to use an organ donor symbol on its drivers licence if it chose to do so rather than the traditional standard code format; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22715/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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There is indeed nothing in the EU Directives which precludes using a symbol for organ donation. However, as I made clear in the answer to which the Deputy refers, one of the main purposes of the new EU licence is to provide harmonisation in the level of information in all Member States, and number codes are the standard way in which information is included on EU driving licences.  This has an added advantage in that there is relatively little available space on the licence itself. I understand that there is no one internationally recognised organ donor symbol, and the number code ensures that a wish to be an organ donor provides the required information in a format consistent with EU standards.