Clerk to the Committee:

In regard to the penalty points, the fixed charge processing system and the related road safety issues, members will see on their screens a table that gives us a good overview of what happens to penalty points and fixed charges. Our report is dealing with a number of these issues, such as lost tickets which accounts for 2%. The key point in the report is that 70% of fixed charges are paid by people when they get the notice in the post. Mr. O'Brien, the former superintendent, who gave evidence to the committee said the system is excellent when it comes to dealing with people who pay their fixed charges. The issue of leaking arises in the 28% of fines that are not paid and is causing significant difficulties.

Let us turn to the findings and recommendations. Findings 2 to 5 deal with data entry on the system. We are looking to review the system whereby if somebody is stopped on the side of the road, that the Garda who is taking the details has the details on a touch screen and should be able to link in to the driver's identity file that is kept in the RSA. That would get rid of a great many problems where somebody detects and takes note of a car that is driving at speed and there is a problem that goes back into the system and is not followed up because it becomes statute barred.

Second, difficulties have arisen for a long time with drivers of company cars. I know there will be a change in the law. One of the issues that came up at our meetings was the photographic evidence which can be used for people who drive company cars and this should be used.

The third issue is the non-serving of court summonses, where approximately 50% of summonses are not served. I know the law has changed but we propose that the summons should be served by registered post, where the onus is on the driver to prove that the summons was not delivered. The point we are making in the report is that the majority tax their cars online and there is never a problem with the tax disc coming by post. There should not be problem with this either.

The fourth issue relates to the driver who is not present when his or her fine is before the court, which is the situation in the majority of cases, and his or her licence is not being endorsed with the penalty points. The issue is to capture the driver's licence at an early stage of the process and use the driver's licence number as the unique identifier and the national vehicle and driver's file can be updated almost automatically.

The next part deals with the cancellation of penalty points by senior gardaí. We have seen from the Comptroller and Auditor General's report the problems that existed in that area. There was no evidence to back up a case. Superintendents were cancelling fines outside their area. I know that the procedures have been tightened up by the centralisation of the cancellation process. We are raising a number of things, such as an annual audit of the process and a report by the fixed charge processing office. That should deal with the issues in this part.

The third area which we looked at was the way complaints are handled and investigated subsequently by the force. The issue is that the confidential recipient process did not appear to work in the case of Sergeant McCabe and there was never a review. The final issue is that when a complain is made is there a system capable of adjudicating on it so that the system is independent.