Mr. Brendan Byrne:

Senator O'Reilly is correct that we cannot speak to an individual case but I will answer this question by reference to the remarks of a previous speaker who listed one or two offences that are serious infringements. We need to be clear. In effect, any infringement, be it minor, serious or otherwise, is treated as a penalty point. That is the elephant in the room. We can read the penalty points statutory instrument ourselves. It specifies A, B, C but the facts of the matter are what is happening on the ground. Technically, everything is subject to a penalty point. Only one other country in Europe tried that, namely, Sweden. Within ten to 15 months it recoiled from that because it does not work. On minor offences it will end up putting the fleet off the sea. What is worse in Ireland, and Mr. John Lynch addressed this point, is that one can never get penalty points cleared because if one commits any minor offence within three years the clock goes back to nought. It is designed to never be fair. That is the problem. What was signed on 29 August 2020 having been rescinded by Dáil Éireann in April 2018 is complete anathema to fairness. That is what we need to address.