Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 November 2020
76. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Transport his plans the address the substantial issues faced by US driver licence holders seeking to secure an Irish driver licence upon return or relocation here; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this is a barrier for persons to secure work (details supplied); his plans to simplify the process; if so, the timeline for completion of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34242/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraA US driving licence is not recognised in Ireland as a valid driving licence for Irish residents. A visitor to Ireland can drive for up to a year on a US licence under the Geneva Convention.
Irish driver licensing law operates within a framework of EU law. As such, all EU driving licences are exchangeable when a person moves from one Member State to another. In the case of non-EU jurisdictions, Ireland may make bilateral agreements on licence exchange. However, Ireland does not have such an exchange agreement in place with the US.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has previously explored reaching agreement on exchange with the US. However, US driver licensing operates at state rather than federal level, meaning that there are 50 licensing systems with widely varying standards, which would have to be studied and compared between each jurisdiction. Agreement with any one state would mean taking into account the exchange relations between that state and the other 49. The RSA determined that such an agreement would not be possible. It may be noted that the road safety data for many US states are significantly worse than any EU state, let alone our record as one of Europe's leaders in road safety.
When people come to Ireland with a non-exchange licence, there is no option but to require them to go through the process of obtaining an Irish licence. This is a matter of public safety. While many individuals may consider that they have a safe driving record, there is no way of measuring this. Furthermore, there is no basis on which a driving licence issued by a given authority can be treated differently from another from the same authority.
While people with a full but non-exchange licence will have to go through the normal driver learning process, they can avail of the shorter Essential Driver Training of 6 lessons instead of the usual 12, and will not have to wait the usual minimum of 6 months before taking a driving test.
