Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I did. My concern is the lack of clarity with regard to how the Courts Service captures the information. I tabled a parliamentary question seeking information, which was disallowed on the basis that it would require the Minister to speculate on the legal situation. The net issue was that, while we know it is an offence for a person to drive while disqualified, gardaí who have been issued these handheld devices were told not to use a particular code. There is doubt as to whether it is an offence to continue driving after disqualification. That does not appear to be an offence. It is very difficult. When people are disqualified from driving, very few licences are surrendered on conviction in the courts. The whole idea of disqualification is to make sure the roads are safe. There is a process problem as to how it is dealt with in practice. Other scenarios than that I have just outlined also arise. There may be an absence of law in respect of one of the offences. I am not at all happy that procedures are in place to capture information in a practical way. I am not sure how the committee should proceed on this matter or whether it is the right committee to deal with it.