Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2015
693. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress on making a regulation in order to provide for the recognition of mutual exchange of driving licences between Ireland and Alberta in Canada. [15453/15]
View answerFor some time now the Road Safety Authority (RSA), as the body responsible for driver licensing nationally, has been engaging with the authorities in Canada with a view to reaching agreements on mutual exchange of driving licences.
The process of reaching such agreements is a complex one, and involves detailed comparison of the two regimes by the driver licensing authorities on both sides in order to ensure that they are compatible.
In Canada, driver licensing operates at provincial rather than national level. As a result, the RSA has been engaging with individual provinces. A decision was made to prioritise agreement with Ontario, due to the large number of Irish residents there. Agreement was reached last year with Ontario, and an agreement with Manitoba is now being put in place. I understand from the RSA that the next agreement is likely to be with Newfoundland and Labrador.
The RSA informs me that they are making progress with Alberta, but it is not possible at this point to specify when an agreement will be in place.
