Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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203. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of persons that are ordinarily resident here but driving on licences from another country; if he has considered the possibility of converting these licences into Irish licences as an emergency Covid-19 measure to help reduce the waiting list for driver tests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15143/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division (DVCSD) of my Department manages the computer records of all vehicles and drivers in the State, referred to collectively as the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF). The NVDF does not hold information on licences issued by other countries. EU driving licences are recognised in Ireland for the duration of the validity of the licence. When the licence expiries, a person resident in Ireland will be issued with an Irish driving licence on application.

All EU driving licences are exchangeable when a person moves from one Member State to another. In the case of non-EU jurisdictions, we may make bilateral agreements on licence exchange when the relevant authorities in each jurisdiction have studied and compared the two licensing regimes, so that each side can be satisfied that they are compatible and that licences can be exchanged without an adverse impact on road safety on one or other country, due to differing standards. On the Irish side, this task is undertaken by the Road Safety Authority (RSA). As the Deputy will recognise, it is essential that a country with whom we agree to exchange licences have a robust system in place.

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.

The Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland may be able to provide the Deputy with information on the number of persons that are ordinarily resident here but driving on licences from another country, as it is usual to give details of a licence when applying for motor insurance.