Road Safety

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 November 2022

Thursday, 17 November 2022

Ceisteanna (148)

Catherine Murphy

Ceist:

148. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if he will confirm that the automation process for sending notification of driver disqualifications by the Courts Service to Transport, which went live in September 2022 in phase 1 of the programme of work, will only automate records of disqualified drivers where a driver number has been captured; if he will report on the progress of phase ll of the programme of work which will cover all remaining records and the date set for completion of phase ll; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57198/22]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Transport

Where the driver disqualification details supplied by the Courts Service to the National Driving Licence Service (NDLS) include a driver number, and match a driver record on my Department's National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF), the disqualification is automatically applied to the driver record concerned.

It is a legal requirement to bring your licence to court. However, as per my response, to Parliamentary Question 52722/22, where the court order cannot be matched automatically, the NDLS attempt to match the record manually. Over 75% of records are matched automatically or as a result of the manual matching process by the NDLS. The remaining 25% of court orders are assigned to ‘Shell’ driver records, where the details supplied could not be matched to any driving licence or learner permit holder on the NVDF. This could be a result of the driver never having an Irish licence or the driver holding a foreign licence.

There are currently no plans by my Department for a subsequent phase of this project.

Question No. 149 answered with Question No. 147.