David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the position regarding converting to an Irish driving licence for a person in receipt of an existing ten-year EU driving licence but whose original first licence was issued in Ukraine; if such an EU licence is reckonable as an E- issued licence for the purposes of exchange; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47278/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Irish driver licensing operates within a framework of EU law. This law exists to ensure that people licensed to drive on our roads meet the high standards of safety set out at EU level for passing a driving test. Therefore, a holder of a Member State-issued licence who moves to Ireland can drive on that licence until the licence expires. On expiry, the licence holder can then exchange their licence for an Irish licence.

The exception to this rule is 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. The Road Traffic (Recognition of Foreign Driving Licences) Order 2007 (SI 527 of 2007) refers. 

Ireland currently does not have a licence exchange agreement with Ukraine, though the Road Safety Authority is examining the possibility of such an agreement being made in the future.   

When people come to Ireland with a non-exchangeable licence, they are required to go through the process of obtaining an Irish licence. While many may have a safe driving record, we have no way of measuring the standard of the driving test passed to obtain the licence.

People with a full but non-exchangeable licence go through the normal learner driver process, but they can avail of the shorter Essential Driver Training of six lessons, instead of the usual 12, and they do not have to be a learner for the usual minimum of six months before applying to take a driving test.