The National Driver Licence Service is forcing me into 5 months of COVID-like isolation. I want to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

Because there isn’t a licence exchange agreement with the US, Irish people returning home to live are being forced to put up L plates and re-take their driving tests. The Minister for Transport could fix this tomorrow with the stroke of a pen.

In general, I try not to stress about things I can’t change. Living in different countries, working in international development, and bringing up two children has taught me to accept that there are situations that I can’t do anything about.

I’m telling this personal story because there is a situation that I can’t change, but the Minister for Transport could. I’m doing so because I don’t want anyone else to experience what we have endured during recent weeks and will for the coming five months.

My husband’s career took my us from Ireland to the United States in 1988 and then to Belgium in 2012. With both our children at university in the UK, we visited Schull, Co. Cork on a sunny weekend in 2019 when the Fastnet Film Festival was in full swing. We put on offer in on a house that weekend and have enjoyed the beauty and cadence of rural life here ever since.

I held an Irish driver license when we moved to the United States. My husband had both Irish and US licences as he had studied in Missouri. I applied for a Connecticut licence, did sight and theory exams, and was advised that I didn’t need a road test. When we moved to Brussels, I handed that licence over in exchange for a Belgian one.

We have driven using those licences in Belgium for four years and in Ireland for six. Several weeks ago, we noticed it was getting close to time to renew. My husband sent his Belgian license to the NDLS for renewal. I decided to wait until his was issued. We waited, then inquired. The NDLS advised that the delay was because his Belgian licence was issued based on the US one, which the NDLS does not accept. We waited several weeks further for a final determination.

During this time, we discovered that many Americans who come to live here for their work, and Irish people who return from the United States to work or retire, are in the same position. We were hopeful that, as we had previously held Irish driver licences and passed the test in Ireland, we might be OK. To support our case, we took the theory test and both scored 100%.

The decision came last week. After driving with clean records for more than 45 years, we must apply for provisional licences, put up L plates, take lessons, and retake the test. Our licences expire on November 24.

Having applied and waited for the provisional licences to be issued, we must apply to take the reduced Essential Driver Training programme, which exempts the 6-month waiting period for foreign licence holders and involves taking 6 lessons instead of 12.

There is a 3-week waiting period for this decision. Then, the lessons must be spaced across a few weeks. There is a 10-week waiting list for test – for people in other parts of Ireland, it can be longer. During this 5-month process, we can’t drive without an “experienced” driver in the car.

Added to this is the almost impossibility of rural life without a car. We live down a track that’s an hour and 12-minute walk from Schull, with no pavements until we reach the town. The walk to a bus stop is half an hour. What do we do about medical appointments, emergencies, or even if we run out of milk? There is no bin collection on our road – how do we get to the dump?

We don’t have family living here. We are depending on the kindness of neighbours and friends, which is OK for a couple of weeks, but for at least five months? And for every lesson, and for the driving test, we will need friends, neighbours or the single local taxi to take us to Skibbereen.

The process is costly, unfair and unjust. This is not required by Irish law, just by NDLS procedures. Our local TD and neighbour Michael Collins has raised the issue with the NDLS, the Minister for Transport and in the Dail on our behalf. He was angered and distressed by our experience, something we really appreciated after the insouciance of the NDLS. Thankfully, there are politicians like Michael Collins who are willing to engage actively with government on behalf of their constituents.

The uncertainty of the last few weeks has been difficult. Luckily, our daughter is a licenced driver and is coming home for Christmas. Without her, we wouldn’t be able to pick up a tree, visit with relatives or interact socially with friends. Once she goes back to England in January, though, we are stuck for quite some time. On top of that, we’re both still working – how do we do our jobs? How much will this cost in terms of our car insurance, not to mention taxis for both of us for work?

The laws of the land do not require what the NDLS is demanding of drivers. My husband, as well as Michael Collins, other TDs and the organization Safe Home Ireland, a diaspora support service, are working to achieve change.

This situation causes unnecessary expense and hardship. The worst part is the uncertainty and the feeling of confinement. I’m 66 years old, at the stage of life where you realize that every day is precious. I want to live my life to the full and not spend a minimum of 5 months in COVID-type isolation when I am clearly an experienced and qualified driver with a clean record. It’s a serious injustice.

We chose to come back to Ireland, as do many others. We accept paying higher taxes to live here because we love being part of this amazing, growing, changing nation. It’s hard to say this, but I love it a little less now. I thought that as a country, we were better than this.

In addition to being unnecessary, there’s a lack of respect or understanding by the NDLS of the mental, financial and social burden their rule is placing on people who want to live here or return to their homeland from the US. I expect my country to be taking decisions that make sense for everyone, rather than rigidly enforcing a solution that is clearly both demeaning, damaging and costly both to Irish citizens and those who come from the US to work here.

Joyce Greene, Schull, Co. Cork

How you can help:

Safe Home Ireland are founding members and co-chairs of the US | Irish Driver’s License Exchange Campaign which was officially launched on 5 th February 2025. This campaign brings together prominent individuals and partner organisations from both the United States and Ireland, united by a shared commitment to supporting the global Irish community. The issue has been included as a deliverable in the current Programme for Government.