Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2015
697. Deputy Brian Walsh asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason that no mutual recognition agreement in relation to driving licences is in place with the United States of America; his plans to pursue such an agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15640/15]
View answerUnder EU legislation, Ireland has arrangements for mutual exchange of driving licences with all other Member States. In the case of non-EU States, we may reach bilateral agreements. Agreeing bilateral arrangements on exchange of driving licences is not a straightforward matter. It involves detailed study and comparison of the two licensing regimes by the licensing authorities in both jurisdictions, in order for both sides to be satisfied that the two regimes are compatible. On the Irish side, this task is undertaken by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
We do not have mutual exchange of driving licences with the USA. The reason for this is that driver licensing in the US operates at State rather than federal level. There is therefore a wide variety of licensing systems with widely varying standards, and broad based mutual recognition is not possible. I therefore have no plans to pursue this matter.
