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

I understand the director of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, was in the House this morning. Since 2013, the authority has been responsible for administering driving licences through the National Driver Licence Service, NDLS. According to figures that were released in 2015, approximately 96% of drivers who are disqualified in court do not surrender their licences. The Irish Timesrecently reported on RSA figures that show "there are almost 8,000 drivers on Ireland’s roads who have multiple concurrent disqualifications on their licences but continue to flout the law by driving". I have asked the Minister about this matter previously. As he knows, it was the subject of an amendment I tried to move during the recent debate on the Road Traffic Bill 2016. The information technology systems used by the courts, the RSA and the Garda need to be closely aligned if we are to eliminate the huge lacuna in information on driving licences that seems to exist at present. This is a particular problem for the Garda.

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