John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps he would check it for us to be absolutely clear and let us have a written note on it.
In relation to Mr. Purcell's comments on the penalty points system, I believe it is a very serious issue, and one that has been highlighted not only by the Comptroller and Auditor General but by many others. As the witness will be aware Sergeant McCabe appeared before the committee in private session. In spite of what you say about two per district and so on in terms of your analysis,28% were not paid. In my opinion that results in a serious loss to the State and as leakage from the State it shows up governance issues in terms of how the whole system was managed. I will not go into the detail of it but I would not like any comment from this committee meeting to be taken as implying it is not that bad. I believe it is very serious and I would like to see much more action taken to resolve the matter. We were talking about delivering summonses or delivering the paper to the offender in person at the end of it. Is itnot amazing that courier companies can go to apartments, the most far-flung places and can deliver to individuals and yet we have a problem. If these summonses and these pieces of paper were not delivered in the private sector they would be bust. They would not accept the percentages of non-delivery that the Department or those involved in this particular instance seem to accept. The percentage of non-delivered items of paper in the case of these issues was 11%. Non-delivery in the transport business is down to 1%. The Department lags behind in terms of a commercial comparison. I am aware there are complications but to allow that situation to continue over the years, without dealing with the issue in some way, is an awful reflection on all of those involved in the Departments or whoever else is steering this through. I would hope Mr. Purcell would take into consideration all of what has happened on this issue recently and get to grips with it rapidly.