S.I. No. 59/1964:

MECHANICALLY PROPELLED VEHICLES (INTERNATIONAL CIRCULATION) (AMENDMENT) ORDER, 1964.

MECHANICALLY PROPELLED VEHICLES (INTERNATIONAL CIRCULATION) (AMENDMENT) ORDER, 1964.

The Minister for Local Government in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 38 of the Local Government Act, 1955 (No. 9 of 1955) and sections 5 and 42 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 (No. 24 of 1961) hereby makes the following regulations and order:--

1.--(1) This Order may be cited as the Mechanically Propelled Vehicles (International Circulation) (Amendment) Order, 1964.

(2) This Order shall come into operation on the 18th day of March, 1964.

(3) The Mechanically Propelled Vehicles (International Circulation) Orders, 1961 to 1963, and this Order shall be construed as one and may be cited together as the Mechanically Propelled Vehicles (International Circulation) Orders, 1961 to 1964.

2. In this Order "the Principal Order" means the Mechanically Propelled Vehicles (International Circulation) Order, 1961 ( S.I. No. 269 of 1961 ).

3. Article 2 of the Principal Order shall be amended as follows:--

(a) in the definition of "driving licence" "the Road Traffic Act, 1961 " shall be substituted for "the Act of 1933";

(b) the following definitions shall be inserted therein:--"domestic driving licence" means a valid and properly completed permit or licence to drive motor vehicles (not being a provisional permit or licence issued to a person to enable him to learn to drive) issued to a visitor by the competent authority of the state in which he resides or by an association duly empowered by such authority to issue the permit or licence;

"international driving permit" means a valid and properly completed international driving permit issued to a visitor under the Convention of 1926 or the Convention of 1949 by the competent authority of the state in which he resides, or by an association duly empowered by such authority to issue such permit;

"driving permit" means a domestic driving licence or an international driving permit ;

"provisional licence" means a provisional licence under Part III of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 .

4. The following articles shall be substituted for articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Principal Order:--

"14.--(1) A visitor who is for the time being the holder of a driving permit may drive in a public place a vehicle which he is licenced by the driving permit to drive, other than a vehicle of a class in respect of which he is disqualified for holding a driving licence, and section 38 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 , shall be modified accordingly.

(2) Part III of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 , modified as follows, shall apply in respect of the driving permit of a visitor in like manner as it applies in respect of a driving licence--

(a) Sections 22, 23, 24, 25, subsection (2) of section 28, subsections (2) and (3) of section 31, sections 36 and 39 and subsection (5) of section 40 shall not apply to a driving permit.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 30 with respect to the suspension of a driving licence, whenever a visitor who holds a driving permit is disqualified under section 26, 27 or 28 for holding any driving licence whatsoever or a driving licence in respect of a class or classes of mechanically propelled vehicles comprising any vehicle which the driving permit licenses him to drive, the driving permit shall stand suspended.

(c) An order under section 26 or 27 disqualifying a person for holding a driving licence during a specified period and thereafter until the person produces a certificate of competency shall not be made, and the appropriate licensing authority for the purpose of those sections shall be Dublin Corporation.

(d) An application for an order under subsection (1) of section 28 may be made to any Justice of the District Court, and the appropriate licensing authority for the purpose of that section shall be Dublin Corporation.

(e) The following words shall be omitted from subsection (4) of section 34--"but, where the issuing authority so thinks proper, it may defer a decision under this subsection pending production by the applicant of a certificate of competency."

(f) In paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section 34 there shall be substituted "any Justice of the District Court" for "a Justice of the District Court having jurisdiction in the place in which such person ordinarily resides".

(g) For the purpose of section 37, an endorsement authorised to be made on a driving permit under this article shall be deemed to be an endorsement made on a driving licence under Part III.

(3) Parts I and V of the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1964 ( S.I. No. 29 of 1964 ) shall apply in respect of a driving permit and the visitor who holds such a permit in like manner as they apply in respect of a driving licence and the holder of such licence.

(4) Where a consequential, ancillary or special disqualification order is made, confirmed, varied or annulled or the disqualification is removed in respect of the holder of a driving permit, Part VI of the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1964, modified as follows, shall apply in respect of a driving permit in like manner as it applies in respect of a driving licence:--

(a) where a provision requires that a licence, having been endorsed by the officer of the court, shall be sent by him to the licensing authority which issued it or returned it to the licensee, there shall be substituted a provision requiring that the driving permit, together with particulars of the disqualification or its annulment or removal as the case may be, shall be sent by the officer of the court to the Dublin Corporation.

(b) on receipt of a driving permit pursuant to subparagraph (a) of this paragraph, the Dublin Corporation shall retain it until it expires or until the period of disqualification ceases or until the visitor leaves the State, whichever is the earlier, and shall, before returning the driving permit to the holder, make an endorsement on the part thereof reserved for endorsements or, if there is no such part, on the back thereof, to the effect that the right to use the permit in the State was withdrawn for the period involved.

(5) The holder of a driving permit shall not be a qualified person for the purpose of article 19 of the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1964.

15.--(1) In respect of the grant of a visitor's driving licence or a visitor's provisional licence and the holding of such licences, the Road Traffic Act, 1961 and the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1964 shall be modified as follows:--

(a) An application for a visitor's driving licence or a visitor's provisional licence may be made to any licensing authority notwithstanding that the applicant does not ordinarily reside on the area of such authority.

(b) The words "Visitor's Driving Licence" shall, in the case of a visitor's driving licence, be added at the head of the authorised form referred to in article 16 of the said Regulations.

(c) The words "Visitor's Provisional Licence" shall, in the case of a visitor's provisional licence, be added at the head of the authorised form referred to in article 23 of the said Regulations.

(d) Sub-article (2) of article 14 of the said Regulations shall not apply to a visitor's driving licence.

(e) The references in sub-article (4) of article 15 of the said Regulations to a driving licence shall (in respect of an application for a visitor's driving licence) be construed as if it included a reference to a driving permit.

(f) The holder of a visitor's driving licence shall not be a qualified person for the purpose of article 19 of the said Regulations.

(g) Paragraph (a) of sub-article (1) of article 29 of the said Regulations shall (in respect of an application for a visitor's driving licence) be construed as if the reference to a driving licence in respect of a class were a reference to a driving permit issued in respect of that class or in respect of a category of vehicles which includes vehicles of that class or the majority of vehicles of that class.

(2) The reference in paragraph (a) of sub-article (1) of article 29 of the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1964, to a driving licence shall not (except in the case of an application for a visitor's driving licence) include a reference to a visitor's driving licence.

(3) (a) For the purpose of the grant of a visitor's driving licence, in any of the enactments specified in subparagraph (b) of this paragraph the term "licensing authority" shall include the Automobile Association, of Suffolk Street, Dublin, and the Royal Irish Automobile Club, of Dawson Street, Dublin.

(b) The enactments referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph are--the Roads Act, 1920, the Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act, 1952 (No. 24 of 1952) ,the Road Traffic Act, 1961 and the orders and regulations made under the said Acts.

(4) As regards any excise duty or fees collected by the Automobile Association or the Royal Irish Automobile Club under the enactments referred to in paragraph (3) of this article, the following provisions shall apply in lieu of the corresponding provisions of the said enactments which apply generally to licensing authorities:--

(a) the sums so collected shall be paid by such body to the Minister at such times and in such manner as he shall from time to time direct, and the sums so paid shall be lodged by him to the credit of the Road Fund;

(b) such body shall keep such accounts and make such returns in relation to the sums so collected as the Minister shall from time to time direct.

(5) In this article--

"visitor's driving licence" means a driving licence granted to a person ordinarily resident outside the State ;

"visitor's provisional licence" means a provisional licence granted to a person ordinarily resident outside the State.

16. As respects vehicles registered in the State and persons holding driving licences (other than driving licences on which the words "Visitor's Driving Licence" have been added) the Automobile Association of Suffolk Street, Dublin, and the Royal Irish Automobile Club of Dawson Street, Dublin, are hereby authorised--

(a) to issue international driving permits under and in accordance with the Convention of 1949 and in accordance with any directions given from time to time by the Minister and to charge for each permit a fee of 10/6, and

(b) for the purposes of the Convention of 1949 to assign, in accordance with any directions given from time to time by the Minister, identification marks to trailers about to be brought out of the State by a person making a temporary stay out of the State."

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Local Government this 14th day of March, 1964.

NEIL T. BLANEY,

Minister for Local Government.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order amends the Mechanically Propelled Vehicles (International Circulation) Orders, 1961 to 1963, consequent on the coming into operation on 18th March, 1964, of Part III of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 (dealing with licensing of drivers) and the regulations made thereunder. The articles of the 1961 Order affected, which have been restated with amendments in this Order, deal with the recognition of visitor's driving permits, the issue of driving licences and provisional licences to visitors, and the issue of international driving permits to Irish residents going abroad.