Mr. Tom Ward:

With reference to the earlier discussion on the system, this is a part of the system that was working really well. It took thousands of people out of court that previously, under old regimes, would have been summonsed to court. My colleague, Mr. Mullan, is correct. The decision has just been handed down by the High Court. It is a question for the State in the form of the police to decide whether to appeal the decision. Certainly from our point of view, we would not welcome a situation where all of those cases would immediately come in as summonses. The more cases of this nature that are kept out of court, the better in terms of the overall efficiency of the system. The group that oversees the penalty point system met the week before last. I understand that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is advising An Garda Síochána on the matter of an appeal. The issue is being taken very seriously. There are timeframes within which the State has to decide whether to appeal the High Court decision. That is the best information I have on where that stands.