Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"—reiterates its concern on road safety and the continued loss of life on Irish roads;

recognises the positive impact the penalty points system has had on road safety;

notes that the downward trend in road deaths has continued in 2007 and recognises that in the first 12 months of the operation of mandatory alcohol testing (August 2006 to July 2007) there has been over a 20% reduction in road deaths compared to the previous corresponding 12 month period;

supports the Road Safety Strategy for the period 2007-2012 in order to further reduce road deaths and injuries;

commends the Government on the sustained implementation of road safety measures such as the establishment of the Road Safety Authority, the roll-out of the Garda Traffic Corps; the introduction of mandatory alcohol testing, the introduction of a graduated driving licence system for learner drivers, the doubling of penalties for drink driving offences, the extension of the penalty points system, including the introduction of penalty points for mobile phone offences;

notes that at the end of October 2007, over 480,000 drivers have received penalty points with 93 drivers currently on 12 points resulting in six months disqualification;

recognises the rights of a person alleged to have committed a road traffic offence, liable to a fixed charge payment, not to pay the amount specified and to opt to have the case heard by the courts;

recognises that the amount of the fine on conviction for a road traffic offence is a matter for the court (within the limits set out in the Road Traffic Acts), as is the collection of such fines;

notes that the Road Traffic Act 2002 provides for the requirement of persons who have accumulated 12 penalty points to submit their driving licences to the licensing authority that granted the licence not later than 14 days from the date of notification; and

notes that the Road Traffic Act 2002 also provides for the offence of not complying with such a direction."

This amendment appears on the second supplementary Order Paper. I wish to share time with Deputy Frank Fahey.

I welcome the opportunity afforded by this motion to debate the issue of road safety. I appreciate the tone of the motion submitted by the Opposition and in particular the expressions of concern at the number of road deaths. The amendment is simply an attempt to clarify the many initiatives that have been taken and give details of those that will continue to be taken in the coming years.

I welcome Deputy O'Dowd's contribution to this debate, much of which was based on a submission to the Department of Transport made by the Courts Service in response to the Department's statement of strategy. The Courts Service made suggestions relating to fixed charge penalty offences and other areas highlighted by the Deputy. I assure him that we will consider them carefully, as we do all suggestions from the Courts Service, the Garda and so on, and will include some of them in the next road trafficBill.

The question of why our penalty points system is different from that of the UK and whether this is a constitutional matter was raised. There is a constitutional element to this subject that relates to the constitutional right of every citizen to go to court. In the UK a person can indicate if he or she wishes to go to court but, because criminal offences are in question, our constitution sees that this right is automatically given. I am not yet sure whether there are options that would allow us overcome this matter but it is something we will examine in the context of the next road traffic Bill.

I will refer briefly to Deputy O'Dowd's point on drink driving and the law passed in 2006 to allow for administrative fines. I would welcome another debate in the House on this matter as such a move would ease pressure on Garda time, give more resources and so on. I spoke to Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock about this on the day of the launch of the road safety strategy and my only reservation is that taking this route could signal that drink driving is acceptable. There are many merits to this suggestion for dealing with these offences, not least the freeing of Garda and court time.

See this speech in context