I am happy to be able to tell the Deputy that I have signed regulations into effect to deal with this matter.
As the Deputy will be aware, people who take up residence in this jurisdiction and who have a driving licence which is not eligible for exchange for an Irish licence are required to go through the driver learning process in order to obtain an Irish driving licence. The reason for this is public safety - where licences are exchangeable, it is because we are satisfied that they are based on testing to a standard comparable to our own, either because they are EU driving licences or because they are licences issued by a jurisdiction with which we have an agreement on licence exchange based on detailed study which shows that the two regimes are comparable.
I am aware that many who take up residence here with non-exchange driving licences find this system lengthy, costly, and frustrating. The principal source of both cost and time is the requirement to undertake 12 Essential Driver Training (EDT) lessons. Following discussions with the Road Safety Authority and with my colleague Minister Ciaran Cannon, Minister for the Diaspora, I decided that people in this situation should be offered a reduced EDT of only 6 lessons. I have now signed into law the necessary regulations. As there will need to be a lead-in time for the RSA and driving instructors, the new measures will come into effect from 21 January 2019.