Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 December 2020
128. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Transport the reason a UK driver licence for a person (details supplied) cannot be exchanged for an Irish licence; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that similar licences held by other family members have been exchanged for Irish licences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41134/20]
View answerDriving licences issued by the Member States of the EU are mutually recognised. Therefore, a holder of a Member State issued licence who moves to Ireland can drive on that licence until the licence expires. On expiry, the licence holder will then need to exchange their licence for an Irish licence. After 31 December 2020, the UK will no longer be a Member State and so a UK driving licence will not be recognised here.
There is an exception to this exchange agreement. Member States are entitled to enter into licence exchange agreements with countries outside the EU under their national legislation. A driving licence issued by a Member State that was itself issued in exchange for a licence from a state that is not a Member State, or a state that Ireland does not have a licence exchange agreement with, cannot be exchanged for an Irish driving licence. The Road Traffic (Recognition of Foreign Driving Licences) Order 2007 (S.I. No. 527 of 2007) refers.
In the case mentioned above, the UK licence was issued in exchange for a Zimbabwean licence. Ireland does not have a licence exchange agreement with Zimbabwe and so the UK licence cannot be exchanged here. The position of other individuals, regardless of whether or not they are members of the same family, is not relevant.
