Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 17 Dec 1998

Vol. 498 No. 6

Written Answers - Road Traffic Offences.

152.

Mrs. Owen

asked the Minister for Justice,

Equality and Law Reform the nature of the technical problems between July 1996 to April 1998 which prevented the issuing of on-the-spot fines for speeding offences detected by GATSO; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28167/98]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

I have been informed by the Garda authorities that speeding offences detected using the GATSO system were dealt with by way of summons prior to April 1998 because the means of auto-processing them was not in place prior to that date.

Nora Owen

Question:

153 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of summons issued in each of the years 1996 and 1997 for speeding offences; and the amount of revenue collected from the prosecution of these offences. [28168/98]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

I am informed by the Garda authorities that statistics regarding the number of speeding offences in which summonses were issued for the years 1996 and 1997 are set out in the following table.

Year	Number of Summonses
1996	35,841
1997	29,275

With regard to the amount of revenue collected from these prosecutions, court statistics are not compiled in such a way as to provide the information sought by the Deputy.