Vol. 573 No. 3
535 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Transport if he will consider giving automatic recognition of licences to immigrants from the EU applicant countries, particularly those coming here to set up businesses, whereby reverting from a full foreign licence to an Irish provisional one is extremely costly in terms of insurance. [25155/03]
Irish driving licence regulations are required to operate within the framework of a harmonised EU system. A person who holds a driving licence issued by a member state of the European Union is permitted to drive in Ireland for so long as that licence remains valid. When the accession countries join the European Union in May 2004, driving licences from these countries will, in accordance with the existing regulatory provisions, be recognised here for driver licensing purposes.
