Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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223. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if a driving licence can be renewed for a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10716/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The current extension to the validity of driving licences is granted under EU Regulation 2021/267 and is recognised by all EU Member States. This means that driving licences that expired between 1 September 2020 and 31 October 2021 have been extended for an additional 10 months. This includes an additional authorisation that Ireland received from the EU to extend licences that expired between 1 July 2021 and 31 October 2021.

When the extensions were applied, the expiry date on the driver file for each person affected was updated to the new expiry date. By law, a driving licence cannot be renewed more than 3 months before the expiry of the licence.

A licence holder can request a letter of entitlement from the Road Safety Authority to bring with them when driving abroad. A letter of entitlement, also known as a driver statement, is a copy of a person's driver record and will show the extended date of expiry of their licence. Further information can be found on the National Driver Licence Service website here www.ndls.ie/about/order-my-driver-statement.html.

All EU member states will recognise an extension granted by the EU. However, recognition of these extensions is a matter for each non-EU country.