Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Section 63 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 requires that when people are alleged to have committed a road traffic offence, they must produce their driver's licence and a photocopy of the licence when they appear in court. There are also fines of between €1,000 and €2,000 for failure to produce and-or imprisonment to a term not exceeding three months. This important legislative measure, which was enacted on 28 October 2011, closed a loophole in earlier legislation where a person who was convicted of a road traffic offence could avoid having it recorded on his or her licence and, therefore, avoid penalty points by simply failing to bring his or her licence to court. Without the licence, the awarding of penalty points cannot be recorded on the National Vehicle and Driver File, NVDF. There were even outrageous suggestions that people were advised sometimes not to bring their licence to court in order that points could not be applied.

In April 2012, Evening Herald investigative journalist, Niall O'Connor estimated that 85,000 motorists had managed to avoid penalty points by arriving in court without their licence. This was a particularly unacceptable situation for repeat offenders who may have been getting away without any penalty for numerous speeding offences and who subsequently may have ended up in a serious crash. It has also been noted that the relatively low number of drivers on 12 points - 133 drivers on 31 March 2012 - could be influenced by the fact that there is a high level of avoidance of points through the non-production of a licence.

Since the enactment of section 63 in 2011, PARC, the national road safety campaign group outstandingly led by Ms Susan Grey and Ms Ann Fogarty, has battled to have it implemented across the courts system. They have attended District Court hearings around the country. In a report they made to me and to the Ministers for Justice and Equality and Transport, Tourism and Sport on the matter, they state, "We found a vast difference in procedures in some courts with little consistency". The application of penalty points seems to be a geographically lottery. For example, in Donegal, Galway and Cork District Courts, many drivers who were summonsed on road traffic penalty point offences, including speeding, were convicted but none was asked to present his or her licence or a photocopy of the licence to be passed on to the NVDF. PARC representatives attended Cork District Court earlier this month and said that, "no drivers (were) asked to hand up their licence in court although many were convicted on penalty point offences". There seemed to be no procedure in the court for taking licence details or sending information to the NVDF. Similarly, during sittings of the Donegal and Galway District Courts, the same thing appeared to be happening.

In contrast, at sittings of Dublin District Court in 2011 and 2012, drivers were requested to bring up their licence and a copy at beginning of court and, on conviction, the clerk took the licence details and returned it to the driver. Similarly, at a number of Dún Laoighaire Court sittings, which were witnessed, all drivers were requested at the beginning of the court day to hand up their licence and, on conviction, the court clerk took all licence details manually. There is a huge discrepancy in this regard and it is disappointing that this difficulty continues, even though from 16 May 2012 last, all summonses were amended to inform drivers that they must produce their licences in court. I understand that, subsequently, courts put up notices to this effect about section 63 but, as campaigners note, this will make little difference if drivers are not being made to produce their licences and are not aware of the related fines for failure to do so.

The Courts Service staff are under extraordinary pressure due to the economic policies of the Government but this is a key area, given the significant increase in road fatalities over the past two months. Unfortunately, we are heading back to the higher figures we had in earlier years. The licence issue seems to be geographical lottery. It is unfair, for example, that professional drivers, who may have acquired 12 points in the greater Dublin region, are put off the road and I am sure the Minister of State and other Members have had representations about what they would do for a living. However, there is a different standard in other parts of the country. District Courts should obey the law.

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