Vol. 525 No. 2
805 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of the upgrading of the garda information technology systems to police road traffic legislation; the reason for the delay in completing this upgrade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24743/00]
The fines on the spot system – FOTS – in Dublin and Cork was upgraded due to the requirement to make it year 2000 compliant, and to cater for fixed penalty offences. These include not wearing seat belts, excessively worn or defective tyres, traffic light infringements, entering hatch markings on a roadway, crossing continuous broken white lines, stopping in a box junction, and stop-yield infringements – 29 offence categories in total. This interim system has been in operation since 1999 and is, I understand, working satisfactorily.
Moreover, a national fines on the spot – FOTS – system is currently being developed to handle fixed penalty offences and the processing of penalty points. This system is expected to be operational at the end of 2001 or early in 2002.
