James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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189. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason for the refusal of an exchange of a UK driving licence for an Irish driving licence for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1638/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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An EU driving licence is exchangeable for an Irish driving licence, except where the licence issued by the other Member State was itself issued in exchange for a licence from a state that is not a Member State, or a state that Ireland does not have a licence exchange agreement with.

Therefore a UK licence that was obtained when the UK was an EU Member State, through the exchange of a Falkland Islands licence, is not exchangeable for an Irish licence. For clarification, the Falkland Islands/Las Malvinas are a self-governing British Overseas Territory, subject to United Kingdom sovereignty, and are not a part of the United Kingdom itself.

As Ireland does not have a driving licence exchange agreement with the Falkland Islands, there is no option but to go through the process of obtaining an Irish licence.

While a person who has a full but non-exchangeable licence will have to go through the normal driver learning process, they can avail of the shorter Essential Driver Training of 6 lessons instead of the usual 12, and do not have to wait the usual minimum of 6 months before taking a driving test.

This situation has not changed since the UK left the EU and an Agreement on the exchange of driving licences between the UK and Ireland was put in place on 1 January 2021.

However, if a person who exchanged a Falkland Islands licence for a UK licence and then went on to obtain a higher category licence for example a truck or bus licence in the UK then that licence should qualify for exchange purposes.