Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 24, to delete lines 34 and 35, and substitute the following:“(ii) where the licence or permit was produced, all the details specified in that licence or permit and those details to be forwarded by the Court to the NVDF and the Road Safety Authority within 5 working days of the conviction, and

(iii) names of the persons who failed to produce their licence on conviction to be forwarded by the Court to the Garda within 5 working days of the conviction and put in place a direct or electronic link between prosecutions as recorded on the Courts Service Criminal Case Tracking System (CCTS) and the Fixed Charge Notice originally issued by An Garda Síochána.”.

This is an attempt to address the serious problem of people who have been convicted of driving offences being permitted to have licences and drive on our roads. The Minister partially reformed this area. We mentioned it several times during Question Time and so on. He amended section 22 of the 2002 Act by stating: "...the presiding judge shall require the person to produce his or her driving licence or learner permit to the registrar, clerk or other principal officer of the court, and the court shall record whether or not the licence or permit was produced, and where the licence or permit was produced, the details specified in that licence or permit." My amendment carries that on in paragraphs (ii) and (iii) which state: "... where the licence or permit was produced, all the details specified in that licence or permit and those details to be forwarded by the Court to the NVDF and the Road Safety Authority within 5 working days of the conviction..." That is the key point, namely, the transfer of information between the court, An Garda Síochána, the vehicle centre and the Road Safety Authority and to do that as quickly as possible.

Then, in paragraph (iii), we added that "names of the persons who failed to produce their licence on conviction to be forwarded by the Court to the Garda within 5 working days of the conviction and put in place a direct or electronic link between prosecutions as recorded on the Courts Service Criminal Case Tracking System (CCTS) and the Fixed Charge Notice originally issued by An Garda Siochána". It is to keep track of all fixed-charge notices and convictions and disqualifications.

I note that amendments Nos. 16 and 17 were ruled out of order. There was an attempt made to address this area as well in the lengthy amendment No. 18 by Deputy Troy, who has another commitment at present.

Road safety campaigners, such as the PARC organisation, and, indeed, the chief executive and chairperson of the Road Safety Authority, are interested in seeing something put in place where all of the details of court convictions, particularly the registration of licences with points and disqualifications, are brought together and that agencies, in particular, the Garda Síochána but also the RSA, would have a full database. That is what I was seeking to address in this amendment. Obviously, it is a flow of information that we need.

See this speech in context