Minister Helen McEntee (right) with Moyagh Murdock, CEO of the Road Safety Authority, and Karen, manager of NDLS Santry.

Exchange driving licences, McEntee advises UK/NI holders resident in Republic

John Donohoe

Published: Tue 24 Sep 2019, 1:45 PM

Last updated: Tue 24 Sep 2019, 2:53 PM

Minister for European Affairs, Helen McEntee' has advised UK/NI driving licence holders resident in Republic, to exchange their licence for an Irish one.

She was speaking after a visit to the National Driver Licence Service, where she met Moyagh Murdock, CEO of the Road Safety Authority to see how they are getting Brexit Ready.

"It was also an opportunity to get an update on the RSA’s UK / NI driving license exchange campaign” the Minister for European Affairs, said.

The Meath East Fine Gael TD stated: “If you are resident in Ireland and hold a UK/NI Driver Licence, you must exchange it before the 31st October. If you don’t, in the event of a no deal Brexit your UK/NI driving licence will no longer be valid."

Minister McEntee is urging those who are worried or affected to visit www.NDLS.ie to find out more information about how to exchange a licence.
She highlighted that to date in 2019 over 30,000 UK licences have been exchanged for an Irish driving licence by the NDLS. This compares to 6,000 for the whole of 2018. There is no official figures for the number of people resident in Ireland holding a UK /NI driving licence. Based on estimates supplied by the Insurance industry there may still be up to 40,000 licences that have not been exchanged. UK licence exchanges have been running at an average of 250 per day during the month of September.

Visiting Ireland on a UK licence

Minister McEntee stressed that UK visitors to Ireland (as opposed to UK residents in Ireland) are not affected, there is no reason that you will not be able to drive in Ireland for holidays with your existing driving licence. You should not be required to carry an International Driving Permit with you in order to drive here, just ensure to carry your UK driving licence with you.

Driving in the UK on an Irish licence

Minister McEntee also highlighted the UK Government’s stated position is that, post Brexit, arrangements for EU licence holders who are visiting or living in the UK would not change. Visitors to the UK, with driving licences from EU Member States, will enjoy the same arrangements as today.