Written answers

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Driver Licensing Exchange Agreements

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1424. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the process for an Irish citizen seeking to transfer an international class 1-5 licence to an Irish equivalent class licence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1283/18]

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1425. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties encountered by Irish citizens that hold international class 1-5 licences and seek to transfer this licence to the Irish equivalent upon return here; if these difficulties will be examined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1284/18]

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1424 and 1425 together.

The International Driving Permit is not a driving licence.  It is a document in a standard international format giving details of the national licence which the person holds.  It is therefore irrelevant to the question of driver licence exchange, which depends on the underlying national licence.  Likewise, the citizenship of an applicant is not relevant to the question of driving licence exchange.

The rules on the exchange of non-Irish for Irish driving licences are clear.  Irish driver licensing law operates within a framework of EU law.  Under EU law, we may issue driving licences only to people resident in the jurisdiction.  

Where people with a driving licence issued by another EU Member State take up residence in Ireland, they may exchange their licence for the Irish equivalent.  In the case of non-Member States, we may reach bilateral agreements on exchange of licences.  Where a holder of such a licence takes up residence in Ireland, they may exchange their licence for the Irish equivalent.

In the absence of a bilateral agreement - which means that there is no recognised standard of testing which people have met - we require people to go through the national driver learning process in order to obtain an Irish driving licence.

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