can you drive in Ireland with a licence from another country while banned in Ireland?

Hi folks,

just wondering if it is possible to drive in IRL. on a licence from another country if you are disqualified from driving on your Irish licence.??

Re: driving bans

I believe the answer is no

I know that it was a big issue that people in Germany who lost their licence due to drink driving were going to Poland or the Czech republic to get a new licence there.

A few years ago the EU harmonised the driving licences and ruled that a licence from any EU country is valid in any other EU country. And most importantly they said there is no requirement to swap licences if you move from one EU country to another one. So the Germans who had lost their licence at home were signing up to a Czech or Polish driving school and resitting the test there. They then used their cz or pl licence in Germany. Recently the German authorities won a case in the european court of justice, basically saying that such a licence was not valid in Germany as the holder had lost the right to drive in Germany as his german licence was withdrawn.

Should the situation arise here, I'd imagine the Irish government would make use of this ruling as well.

Re: driving bans

It doesn't have anything to do with the drivers licence as such.Basically it means that the driver is banned from Irish roads irrespective of what licence he/she holds.A friend of mine was banned in the late 80's,moved to Fermanagh and did his driving test there.He returned home in a NI registered car but was told by a local Guard that he had 7 days left on his 1 Yr driving ban and not to drive in the car.He was lucky he encountered a decent local Guard.Not so plentiful nowadays!!!