Fines Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 November 2021

Thursday, 4 November 2021

Questions (329)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

329. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice further to Parliamentary Question No. 200 of 12 May 2021, if she will provide the most to date figures; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53719/21]

Written answers

Minister for Justice

As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible under the law for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána. This includes the operation of the Fixed Charge Penalty System, which is under the remit of the Garda Fixed Charge Processing Office.

I have been advised by An Garda Síochána that no person issued with a Fixed Charge Penalty Notice (FCPN) is deemed to have 'failed' to pay the Notice once the statutory payment window has passed. Rather, a person has a right to refuse to pay the notice and take the option of Court proceedings. The reasons why a person may not pay the Notice are varied and not recorded by An Garda Síochána.

I have contacted An Garda Síochána and have been provided with the following table which shows a yearly breakdown per Garda division of the number of instances in which a Fixed Charge Notice was issued for the offences of driving while holding a mobile phone and the eventual outcome was the issuance of a summons and/or court proceedings.

Figures are based on incidents which occurred from 01/01/2018 to 31/10/2021, inclusive. All information contained in this table is based upon operational data from the FCPS system as was available on 02/11/2021 and is liable to change.

	2018	2019	2020	2021*
Cavan/Monaghan	138	129	91	34
Clare	116	69	96	45
Cork City	225	168	168	152
Cork North	124	144	106	84
Cork West	64	61	26	20
D.M.R. Eastern	128	120	83	59
D.M.R. North Central	127	111	112	81
D.M.R. Northern	163	220	181	158
D.M.R. South Central	139	195	94	45
D.M.R. Southern	193	166	154	88
D.M.R. Western	307	323	326	219
Donegal	55	60	62	47
Galway Div	277	270	171	77
Kerry	137	133	115	89
Kildare Div	197	157	205	301
Kilkenny/Carlow	135	141	159	164
Laois/Offaly	145	129	100	142
Limerick	363	294	153	107
Louth Div	73	71	121	102
Mayo	56	126	85	93
Meath Div	85	88	151	197
Roscommon/Longford Div	71	63	55	40
Sligo/Leitrim	64	62	23	31
Tipperary	90	92	113	125
Waterford Div	103	103	135	149
Westmeath Div	43	34	37	52
Wexford Div	198	166	130	91
Wicklow Div	106	108	92	65
Yearly Total	3922	3803	3344	2857

*Figures for 2021 up to 31/10/2021