The Road Traffic Act 2002 provides for the notification to a person of the endorsement of penalty points, and where appropriate, of the imposition of a six-month disqualification. Where a disqualification is applied, the 2002 Act provides that the licence holder must return their licence to the licensing authority that granted the licence within 14 days of the appropriate date and that failure to comply with this requirement constitutes an offence. All drivers are subject to road traffic law and enforcement, including in relation to this matter, is a matter for An Garda Síochána. I do not have plans to reform the penalty points system in that regard.
I am conscious that enforcing penalties for road traffic offences on foreign registered drivers raises many legal, organisational and procedural issues, which make it very difficult for any one State to enforce such penalties.
For that reason, my Department is pursuing this question at the European, British/Irish and North/South levels where mutual recognition and cross border enforcement possibilities are under consideration. As foreign licence holders do not have an Irish driving licence record, penalty points incurred in this State are recorded against that person on a separate record in the National Driver File. Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 477 of 2006) the Road Safety Authority has responsibility for ensuring that penalty points are endorsed on a licence record. Data in relation to penalty points is held on the National Driver File. The realisation of fines and penalties imposed by the Courts is a matter for the Courts Service.