Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

This amendment aims to invest authority for the driving licence in one body. There are major problems with the system and follow-up action is not being taken because there are so many agencies involved in the process, such as the Garda, the national driver file in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Courts Service and the local authorities. Communication between these bodies is poor. We witnessed the fiasco involving the failure to disqualify drivers with 12 penalty points. Under this system, people receive their penalty points through the fines system, rather than through the courts system. Vesting responsibility in one body is the way forward. The process will become very messy if it is not streamlined. The Minister spoke about the introduction of the European driver licence but we cannot wait for this development. We will continue to encounter problems until the driver licensing system is computerised.

See this speech in context