Vol. 522 No. 4
91 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the number of legal actions entered into by the Department within the last 12 months; the number that are either successful, failed or on going; the total cost of these actions; the number of barristers employed; and the amount of money given to each barrister. [19072/00]
The road haulage section of the Department is involved in the enforcement of the EU tachograph regulations and road transport legislation regarding heavy good vehicles and buses. The Department currently has an inspection team of nine transport officers who are involved in ongoing enforcement of drivers hours, breaks and rest periods under the tachograph regulations together with licensing requirements under the Road Transport Acts. These cases are heard at District Court level.
These proceedings are conducted on an ongoing basis, statistics for proceedings entered into this year are not currently available. However, the number of actions, which were dealt with by the District Courts in 1999 are as follows: total number of court cases, 418; number of convictions, 270; and number of non-convictions, 148.
The Department does not use outside representation in these proceedings. They are dealt with by the State Solicitor's and the Chief State Solicitor's office. No other legal actions were initiated by the Department within the last 12 months.
