I have requested a report from the Garda authorities in relation to the number of fixed charge penalty notices issued to drivers by An Garda Síochána in the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014 for the offence of driving while using a mobile phone; the number of these drivers who did not pay the mandatory penalty fixed under the notice within 56 days and were summoned to court. I will contact the Deputy directly as soon as the report is to hand.
The Deputy will be aware that, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service and I have no role in the matter. Section 4(3) of the 1998 Act provides that the Courts Service is independent in the performance of its functions, which includes the provision of information on the courts system.
However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the table provides details of the number of drivers before the court for driving while using a mobile phone in each of the time periods requested and the number of drivers convicted of the offence in the same period.
|
Year
|
No of Drivers summoned to Court
|
No of Drivers convicted
|
|
2011
|
8,188
|
2,171
|
|
2012
|
7,312
|
2,010
|
|
2013
|
6,340
|
1,777
|
|
Jan – July 2014
|
4,344
|
1,368
|
Note 1: The data in the tables relates to offences prosecuted for driving while holding a mobile during the course of each year.
Note 2: Report is on prosecutions for drivers and some offences may not have been finally disposed of.
Note 3: Driver if prosecuted more than once in the same year only appears once on the report.
