Details of an agreement for the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain were announced on the 26th of June this year.
The agreement will be within the framework established by the 1998 Convention on Driving Disqualifications. I believe that this will be the first such instance of international cooperation within that framework.
In 1998, the UK and Ireland along with all thirteen (at the time) other EU Member States of the European Union signed the international Convention on driving disqualification (98/C 216/01). The Convention intends to ensure that drivers disqualified from driving in a Member State other than their normal place of residence should not, on their return home, escape the consequences of that disqualification.
The Convention provides for six agreed kinds of conduct which will be internationally recognised for the purposes of driving disqualification. The Convention automatically comes into force across all Member States only when all signatory States have ratified it. However, the Convention allows one EU Member State to recognise another's driving disqualifications before all Member States have ratified.
The agreed behaviours covered by the 1998 Convention include: reckless or dangerous driving; hit-and-run driving; driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs; speeding; and driving whilst disqualified.
Ireland and the UK and have already implemented the necessary primary legislation to allow for ratification (in the UK through the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003, and in Ireland under the Road Traffic Act 2002).
The agreement should see mutual recognition of disqualifications between the three administrations in place by Spring 2009. Discussions on the practical arrangements for implementation are continuing between the police, Court services and the licensing authorities in the different jurisdictions.