Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2010
68 Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Transport his views on whether national road safety has been compromised after 18,000 drivers who had committed road safety offences got away without a single penalty point being applied to their licences; the proposals he is developing with the Department of Justice and Law Reform to address this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12798/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is important to state at the outset that more than 70% of fixed charge notices are paid within the statutory prescribed 56-day period and that penalty points, where appropriate, are applied as a consequence of making such payments. Where fixed charge notices are not paid, the matter is dealt with by way of summons to appear before the courts. There is already an obligation on a person appearing before a court charged with offences under the Road Traffic Acts to present his or her driving licence to the court. However, the Road Traffic Bill 2009 amends existing provisions to facilitate administrative procedures in the courts by obliging a person to also bring a photocopy of his or her licence for presentation to the registrar, clerk or other principal officer of the court.
This proposed amendment arose during the extensive discussions with key stakeholders, including the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, that preceded the drafting of the Bill. The Bill also includes a number of provisions to facilitate the endorsement of penalty points where a licence record does not exist and for foreign driving licence holders, as well as to bring foreign driving licence holders into the scope of the application of sanctions for road traffic offences, including a disqualification from holding a driving licence.
The public were shocked to learn that so many drivers had got away on this technicality. Moreover, when this was allied to the issues concerning non-Irish national drivers and drivers from Northern Ireland, people concluded that the penalty points system is a farce. Has the Minister made further progress in respect of the mutual recognition of penalty points with Northern Ireland?
This is being done jointly with the United Kingdom and at present we await a report from the United Kingdom's authorities in this regard. The United Kingdom is the lead authority on this issue as we were the lead authority, with Northern Ireland, regarding the mutual recognition of disqualifications and, consequently, we are in their hands to an extent. While progress is being made, I acknowledge there will be a three to four year period before the two systems can be aligned.
While I accept the Minister has made progress in this regard, cars from Northern Ireland still drive at extremely high speeds on the M1 every day of the week. When will the authorities be able to deal with this problem effectively? The Minister has acknowledged this is a serious matter and I am surprised it has not been dealt with heretofore.
As I stated in my response to the previous question——
I apologise as I did not hear all of it.
In that regard, we await a progress report from the United Kingdom authorities.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
