John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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627. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the efforts he has made to lobby the Canadian Government to recognise drivers' licences issued by the Irish authorities and held by Irish persons seeking work in Canada. [40528/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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​Driver licensing in Canada operates at provicial, not national level. Ireland has at present driver licensing exchange agreements in operation with two Canadian provinces, Ontario and Manitoba. We will shortly be bringing in an agreement with Newfoundland & Labrador.

Reaching these agreements is a complex process, which involves the licensing authorities on each side conducting detailed comparison of the two licensing regimes, so that each can be satisfied that the two regimes are compatible. On the Irish side, this task is undertaken by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

 The RSA has been working for some time with the relevant authorities in each of the Canadian provinces. This has led to the agreements which I have mentioned, and I am confident that we will in time have similar agreements with the remaining Canadian provinces.