Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2019
523. Deputy Tom Neville asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if a person with an English driver licence who applies for conversion to an Irish driver licence will be automatically converted to drive each vehicle licensed on the English licence under the new Irish licence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16137/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere are a number of situations where a person exchanging a UK driving licence might not get all the categories carried forward to the Irish licence.
Under EU law, an application for a truck or bus licence (categories C's and D's) must be accompanied by a completed medical report. If a person with the relevant truck or bus category on their UK licence attends at a National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) Centre without the relevant medical report, they will be given the option to sign a form stating that they do not wish the categories to be exchanged. The applicant can request the categories be re-instated on their Irish licence by presenting a medical report.
Some UK categories known as ‘National Categories’ [similar to our W tractor category] only apply in the UK and they are not exchangeable. For example, in the UK if you passed your test for category B (car) before 1 January 1997, your licence would show entitlement to C1 and C1E (trucks) and D1 and D1E (bus) categories. These categories are given with restrictions identified by codes.
The C1E category with a restriction code 107 on it entitles the driver to drive a C1E vehicle provided the combined weight of the trailer and the towing vehicle does not exceed 8.25 tonnes/kg. In Ireland the combined weight of the C1E is 12 tonne/kg. Therefore we do not have an equivalent to exchange this category for. The D1 and D1E categories with a restriction code 119 on it only allow the driver to drive a vehicle not for hire or reward. We do not have the corresponding category so cannot exchange it. Code 107 and 119 are UK codes and are not available in Ireland.
