Road Traffic Act 1961
F57[Application for Irish driving licence.
22.—(1) Subject to this Part, a person may apply to a licensing authority for a licence ("Irish driving licence") to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle of a specified category.
(2) An application for an Irish driving licence—
(a) shall be made—
(i) to the licensing authority F58[…]
(ii) in accordance with the regulations made under section 42(2)(c),
(b) shall be accompanied by—
(i) any certificate of competency or fitness required under regulations under this Act, and
(ii) the fee payable on the taking out of such a licence,
and
(c) shall contain—
(i) a recent photograph of the applicant, and
(ii) the applicant’s personal public service number allocated and issued to him or her under section 262(2) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.
(3) Details of an applicant’s personal public service number referred to in subsection (2)(c) may be entered in licence records.
(4) (a) A person to whom this subsection applies may inspect and examine licence records and may take, or be supplied by the Minister or the licensing authority F58[…], as may be appropriate, with—
(i) such information from the records, and
(ii) such copies of licence records or of such extracts from such records,
as the person may reasonably require.
(b) This subsection applies to—
(i) persons or categories of person with the approval of the Minister in fulfilling obligations under European Union and other international enactments and agreements for the exchange of driver and vehicle information, and
(ii) such other categories of person and the purpose for such access as may be prescribed.
(5) In this section "licence records" means records maintained under section 60 (as amended by section 86 of the Finance Act 1994) of the Finance Act 1993. ]
Annotations
Amendments:
F57
Substituted (1.06.2011) by Road Traffic Act 2010 (25/2010), s. 57(1), S.I. No. 255 of 2011.
F58
Deleted (12.01.2013) by Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012 (16/2012), s. 50(b), S.I. No. 5 of 2013.
F59
Substituted by Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023 (16/2023), s. 5(c)(i), (ii), not commenced as of date of revision.
F60
Substituted by Road Traffic Act 2024 (10/2024), s. 21(a), not commenced as of date of revision.
Modifications (not altering text):
C24
Prospective affecting provision: subs. (2)(b)(i) amended by Road Traffic Act 2024 (10/2024), s. 21(a), not commenced as of date of revision.
F59[(b) shall be accompanied by—
(i) evidence, in accordance with F60[regulations made under section 42(2)(ca)], that the person has a legal right to reside in the State,
(ii) any—
(I) certificate of competency,
(II) certificate of fitness, or
(III) medical report, required under regulations under this Act, and
(iii) the fee payable on the taking out of such a licence,]
C25
Prospective affecting provision: subs. (2)(b), (c)(i) substituted by Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023 (16/2023), s. 5(c)(i), (ii), not commenced as of date of revision.
F59[(b) shall be accompanied by—
(i) evidence, in accordance with regulations made under section 42(2)(cc), that the person has a legal right to reside in the State,
(ii) any—
(I) certificate of competency,
(II) certificate of fitness, or
(III) medical report, required under regulations under this Act, and
(iii) the fee payable on the taking out of such a licence,]
(c) shall contain—
F59[(i) where required under regulations under this Act, a recent photograph of the applicant, and]
(ii) the applicant’s personal public service number allocated and issued to him or her under section 262(2) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.
C26
Application of section extended (21.10.2006) by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 537 of 2006), reg. 16.
Application of certain provisions of Act to provisional licences.
16. Section 22(2), (4) and (5), sections 26 and 27, section 28(1), (3), (4) and (5) and sections 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 39 and 41 of the Act apply in relation to provisional licences as if a reference to a driving licence in any of those provisions were a reference to a provisional licence, except that —
(a) a consequential or ancillary disqualification order does not operate so as to disqualify a person for holding a provisional licence for a period after a specified period until he or she has produced to the appropriate licensing authority a certificate of competency,
(b) the application of section 22(5) of the Act to provisional licences does not operate so as to disqualify a person who holds a driving licence in respect of vehicles of a category or categories, for applying for a provisional licence in respect of that category or any of those categories for the purpose of learning to drive in order to pass a test where, by virtue of any provision of the Act, he or she is required to produce a certificate of competency, and
(c) where the holder of a provisional licence in respect of vehicles of a category for any period has been granted a certificate of competency in respect of that category, he or she shall not by virtue of the application of section 22(5) of the Act to provisional licences, be disqualified for applying for a driving licence in respect of that category for any period within the period for which the provisional licence has been granted.
Editorial Notes:
E275
A number of statutory instruments made pursuant to s. 42 of this Act were also made pursuant to this section. Where this occurred the relevant E-note in the annotations of s. 42 notes that the statutory instrument is also made pursuant to s. 22. These statutory instruments are not separately listed under this section.
E276
Power pursuant to subs. (4)(b)(ii) exercised (27.04.2017) by National Vehicle and Driver File (Access) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 179 of 2017).
E277
Power pursuant to subs. (4)(b)(ii) exercised (9.07.2015) by National Vehicle and Driver File (Access) (No. 2) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 287 of 2015).
E278
Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to subs. (4)(b)(ii) exercised (19.02.2015) by National Vehicle and Driver File (Access) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 64 of 2015); revoked (9.07.2015) by National Vehicle and Driver File (Access) (No. 2) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 287 of 2015), reg. 3.
E279
Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to subs. (4) exercised (29.10.2013) by Finance Act 1993 (Section 60) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 414 of 2013), reg. 2 and sch.; revoked (19.02.2015) by National Vehicle and Driver File (Access) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 64 of 2015).
E280
Previous affecting provision: application of section extended (15.11.1999) by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1999 (S.I. No. 352 of 1999), reg. 19, in effect as per reg. 2; revoked (21.10.2006) by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 537 of 2006), reg. 5(a), in effect as per reg. 2, and superseded as per C-note above.
E281
Previous affecting provision: application of section extended (2.12.1994) by Road Traffic Act 1994 (7/1994), s. 29(1), S.I. No. 350 of 1994; repealed (30.10.2007) by Road Traffic Act 2006 (23/2006), s. 11(4), S.I. No. 718 of 2007.
E282
Previous affecting provision: application of section extended (13.11.1989) by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1989 (S.I. No. 285 of 1989), reg. 18; revoked (15.11.1999) by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1999 (S.I. No. 352 of 1999), reg. 57 and sch. 8, in effect as per reg. 2, and superseded by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1999 as per E-note above.
E283
Previous affecting provision: application of subss. (2), (4) and (5) extended (18.03.1964) by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1964 (S.I. No. 29 of 1964), reg. 18; revoked (13.11.1989) by Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1989 (S.I. No. 285 of 1989), reg. 60 and sch. 7.