Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022
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PART 7 Amendment of Road Traffic Acts | ||
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Amendment of Road Traffic Act 1961 | ||
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46. The Road Traffic Act 1961 is amended— | ||
(a) in section 3— | ||
(i) in the definition of foreign driving licence— | ||
(I) in paragraph (a), by the substitution of “vehicle,” for “vehicle, or”, | ||
(II) in paragraph (b), by the substitution of “23A(1), or” for “23A(1) ;”, and | ||
(III) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b): | ||
“(c) recognised by an order under section 23B;” | ||
(ii) by the insertion of the following definitions: | ||
“‘European Economic Area’ means the European Economic Area created by the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as amended for the time being; | ||
‘permission to reside’ means a permission under section 60(6) of the International Protection Act 2015 , which permission is valid; | ||
‘relevant person’ means a person who has been given a permission to reside;”, | ||
(b) by the insertion of the following section after section 23A: | ||
“Recognition of foreign driving licences held by certain persons | ||
23B. (1) The Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Justice, may by order declare that a licence or permit permitting a relevant person to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle, not being a licence or permit to enable that relevant person to learn or provisionally to drive such a vehicle, issued by the competent authority of a relevant state, shall be recognised for the purpose of use in the State in respect of any one or more of the categories in respect of which the licence or permit issued to a relevant person is held, and subject to such restrictions, if any, as may be specified in the order. | ||
(2) In this section, ‘relevant state’ means a state other than the State or a Member State or member state of the European Economic Area.”, | ||
(c) in section 38, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (8): | ||
“(9) In this section, notwithstanding the definition of driving licence in section 3, ‘driving licence’ means— | ||
(a) an Irish driving licence, | ||
(b) a licence or permit to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in respect of a category of vehicle referred to in the European Communities (Recognition of Driving Licences of Other Member States) Regulations 2008 issued by the competent authority of another Member State or a member state of the European Economic Area, but does not include a licence or permit so issued to a person to enable the person to learn to drive or provisionally to drive a vehicle, | ||
(c) a licence or permit to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in respect of a category of vehicle recognised by an order made under section 23A(1), or | ||
(d) both— | ||
(i) a licence or permit to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in respect of a category of vehicle recognised by an order made under section 23B(1), and | ||
(ii) the permission to reside given to a relevant person who holds the licence or permit referred to in subparagraph (i).”, | ||
(d) in section 40, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (9): | ||
“(10) In this section ‘driving licence’ has the meaning given to it by section 38(9).”. |