Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the research broadcast this morning by Mr. Kieran Cuddihy on Newstalk radio because it reflected the issues raised here on Tuesday afternoon about penalty points. We raised, with the Minister, the fact that there were some 318,000 penalty points in 2012 that were attached to people with no licence. Mr. Cuddihy has updated that figure to 445,000.

It appears there is a problem in the Courts Service. Mr. Cuddihy's findings show that one can turn up in court without a driving licence and nothing will happen. He said that at the moment the reality is that drivers can turn up in court without a copy of their licence and be issued penalty points that will disappear into the system. We have the undertaking that the Courts Service will, in the near future, commence providing An Garda Síochána with details of the incidence of the non-production of driving licences. It will then be a matter for the Garda Síochána to commence prosecutions.

On Tuesday last during the course of the debate on the relevant legislation we had asked, in an amendment, that what is currently published as the category, people with no licence, be broken down into numbers. The Minister gave other categories to the House such as learner permits, no licences, licences from outside the jurisdiction, the non-appearance in court and unmatched penalty points from previous years. Therefore, we received quite misleading data and the Minister, on the instigation of the House, has taken steps to correct the situation. The result will be safe roads and more reliable data.

The House has played an important role in this. We had a listening Minister who realised that the penalty points should have been attached to existing drivers rather than attributed to new drivers without a licence. The result is that we will have a more reliable basis on which to formulate road safety. Undoubtedly, if penalty points are properly attached then the roads will be much safer. We are indebted to the broadcaster today but also to the House and to the fact that the Minister listened to us last Tuesday.