Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister's intention to introduce legislation to deal with this issue, which was brought to his attention by the Road Safety Authority. The authority has complained that if a person with a fake driving licence is stopped by gardaí, they can request sight of the licence but cannot take it from him or her. If gardaí stop a motorist with a fake licence who is supposed to be off the road, they cannot take that licence either. Is it true that up to 1 November 2007, of the 121 drivers on 12 penalty points, who should be off the road, only 40 had handed in their licence to the local motor tax office, as required by law? This is a serious issue because these are dangerous, bad drivers.

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