Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased that the Minister was able to meet the industry and respond to the views of Members from various parties on this side of the House. However, I am somewhat disturbed to learn that the Minister is not prepared to revoke the statutory instrument. Had we known that, we could have made the Minister's job simpler. We could have secured a majority in this House to revoke it because a majority oppose it. If it was not legal then, it is not legal now. Perhaps the Minister would clarify and deal with this as quickly as possible.

For the information of those Members who do not understand, penalty points for any infringements are put on one's licence and the highest court in the land cannot change that. I am pleased the Minister is changing it, but I still believe he should consider revoking it and put in place the template that is acceptable to the European Union, which is the one in the UK. Finally, although it might be too early to respond to this, does the Minister expect to do this by way of primary legislation or another statutory instrument? To be fair, the Minister acted very quickly and we are pleased with that. However, we are a little concerned that he has not revoked it.

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