Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I am conscious that we are talking here about legislation that could potentially take away the livelihood of people. That is a pretty severe sanction. Obviously, it would impact on their reputation if they were issued with penalty points. There are all sorts of implications here. It is quite a big deal. I ask again, if this information can be given to the Minister, for him to articulate it to the committee, now or soon. I want to establish if there is an example anywhere in Europe where a member of the European Union - or Britain before it left the European Union - implemented this legislation. The Minister said we are the last to do it and that is regrettable. It should not have to be like that. However, is there an example where they use the phraseology "on the balance of probabilities"? Was there any such phraseology used in any other country's implementation of these penalty points into its own laws? I want to establish that because my understanding is that the international benchmark is "beyond a reasonable doubt". I would like to know if any other country has breached that threshold, as we are doing here with this legislation.