Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 June 2014
580. Deputy Brian Walsh asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to make provision for the transposition into Irish law of Directive 2012/36/EU, which eliminates the requirement for lorries and buses to have manual gear boxes. [24374/14]
View answer581. Deputy Brian Walsh asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the differences in the application of regulations relating to driving tests in Ireland and Northern Ireland (details supplied); and if he is concerned that this may result in competition issues for driving instructors operating in Border counties. [24375/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 580 and 581 together.
Irish legislation on driver licensing operates within the framework of EU legislation. The principal EU law on driver licensing is Directive 126 of 2006. This has been amended a number of times, including by Directive 36 of 2012. Directive 36 of 2012 allows Member States the option that drivers who have passed a test for vehicles of categories C, CE, D, and DE with an automatic transmission to drive vehicles of those categories with a manual transmission, providing that they also have a licence to drive vehicles of categories B, BE, C, CE, C1, C1E, D, D1 or D1E, and that when tested they underwent tests in safe and energy-efficient driving. Ireland has not adopted this measure.
