Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 May 2014
324. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 186 of 7 March 2012, wherein he stated that it should be possible in future to provide data regarding whether or not a driving licence is produced in court cases involving road traffic offences, if the Courts Service now has a system in place to record whether driving licences have been produced in road traffic cases. [20272/14]
View answerAs indicated in my response to Question 186 of 7 March 2012 the primary purpose of section 63 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 is to ensure that the driving licence number of individual offenders is recorded to enable the application of appropriate penalty points to the licence on conviction by the court.
I am informed that where an accused is brought before a Court in relation to a penalty point offence, the driving licence number is collected by two methods. The first is where the details are provided by An Garda Síochána prior to submission of an application for a summons in respect of the offence. Where the driving licence number is so collected, the driving licence number is sent electronically to the Courts Service with the summons application and the licence number is updated to the Courts Service computer system. Under the second method, the details are collected by the Court Registrar where a licence is produced to the Court at the hearing of the offence. As outlined above, if the licence is produced, the Court Registrar records the licence number and the number is updated to the Courts Service computer system. If the accused is convicted of the offence, the details of the conviction and the associated driving licence number are subsequently sent electronically to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for the application of penalty points.
The Courts Service has indicated that It is not possible to differentiate between the two methods above to provide statistical data in relation to the number of driving licence numbers actually collected within a Court. My Department is in contact with the Courts Service with a view to examining an adjustment to the method of recording such that the number of licences produced in court can be established.
I am informed that where an accused is summonsed to appear before a court in respect of a penalty point offence and is convicted of the offence, if a driving licence is not produced to the Court, the Court Registrar records on the Court Minute Book or on the summons that no driving licence was produced. The non-production of the driving licence is recorded whether or not the accused appears before the Court. The Courts Service computer system does not currently support the updating of data in relation to the non-production of driving licences in court.
