Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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599. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when driving licences obtained in the United States of America will be recognised by the State in view of the fact that Canadian licences are automatically recognised here and licences in the United States are automatically recognised by the Canadian Government; the reason the State does not recognise driving licences from the United States; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25665/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The purpose of having a system of driver licensing is to enhance public safety by ensuring that people issued with licences to drive on our roads have met certain standards through a driver learning and testing process.

Ireland recognises driving licences for exchange when they are issued by other EU Member States, as all EU countries operate within the same framework of driver licensing and testing.

In the case of non-EU states, we may reach bilateral arrangements.  These are not straightforward and do not happen simply where they are desirable.  Before any such agreement can be reached, the relevant authorities on each side must compare the systems in the two jurisdictions in detail in order for each side to be satisfied that the standards are compatible.  On the Irish side, this task is undertaken by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

The RSA has previously examined the possibility of recognising US licences.  However, in the US driver licensing operates at state rather than federal level.  The standards applied by the different states vary greatly.  Reaching agreement would therefore mean reaching 50 separate agreements.  While some states might have systems compatible with ours, others would not.  Each of the 50 agreements would therefore have to take into account the exchange relationships between that state and the other 49.

In regard to Canada, we currently have agreements in place with three of the ten Canadian provinces, and I expect shortly to add a fourth.  Bilateral driver licensing agreements do not cover licences issued in exchange for third party licences - a person who exchanges a US licence for a Canadian one cannot exchange that licence for an Irish one.