David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality who regrets that, owing to other official commitments, she cannot be here, I thank Deputies for their exchange of views and observations on the Courts (No. 2) Bill 2016. The broad political support that Members have given to this technically important Bill is also very much appreciated.

I also express my appreciation of the wider road safety and compliance concerns that have been raised during the discussion. They also need to be addressed, including in terms of the human cost and in the wider context of road safety and the Road Traffic Acts. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan listed five specific areas of concern. I will bring them to the attention of the Minister and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. I listened very carefully to what the three Deputies who spoke had to say. I am quite impressed. I encourage all Deputies to continue pressing and thank Deputies who encourage road safety and have raised issues like this here and in committees. It is very important that this continues. I encourage Deputies to do this. As the last speaker said, we should continue to work to improve safety on the roads and reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries. That is crucially important and I thank Deputies for it. I will also inform the Tánaiste of Deputy Thomas P. Broughan's ongoing concerns, in particular.

Those concerns do not fall within the scope of this discrete, focused Bill but nevertheless it is a Bill which will technically underpin the enforcement of the wider road safety regime. For present purposes, our debate has been a further step towards enabling the introduction of the proposed new third payment option under a dual strategy, namely, the amendment for technical reasons under today’s Bill of section 1 of the Courts (No. 3) Act 1986, which deals with the issue of summonses for offences as a matter of administrative procedure and the commencement, once the proposed technical amendments set out in the Courts (No. 2) Bill have been made, of section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, in order that the third payment option can be put into practical effect.

The operative date for these changes, for which the necessary IT infrastructure has been put in place, is 1 June 2017. Hence the need to have the framework of this supporting Bill firmly in place before then. While the initial 2013 estimate of the number of cases that may be at issue under this reform initiative was at the 7,500 mark, it is now understood from the Courts Service that in more recent terms it would estimate this figure to be around 2,000 cases per year. It has been emphasised in providing this latest figure that it is very much an estimated one on account of the variety of approaches being taken at judicial level to such cases and the fact that the relevant figures fluctuate from court to court and from year to year. However, as Members will appreciate, there is no room for complacency and I am confident that the Courts (No. 2) Bill 2016 will provide the technical basis upon which to address an ongoing gap in the system whereby persons may otherwise continue to try to circumvent the law, a fixed charge and penalty points. The benefits anticipated from the Courts (No. 2) Bill and the subsequent introduction of the third payment option include the following: an increase in instances of detected road traffic infringements resulting in penalty points; a reduction in the number of cases coming to court, thereby saving time for the Courts Service and An Garda Síochána; an increase in the number of persons taking up the first or second payment options; and improved service for members of the public who do not receive or overlook to pay an original fixed charge notice. Deputies will agree it is also important to remember we are not just addressing a legal technicality in this instance. We are also being fairer to the majority of drivers on our roads who behave within the law every day. By the same token, the introduction of the third payment option is a key component in a series of ongoing measures to improve the operation of the fixed charge processing system under the overall aegis of the Government's Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020. In this spirit, with the Tánaiste, I look forward to our ongoing debate of the Courts (No. 2) Bill 2016 as it progresses through its forthcoming Stages, including Committee Stage in the Dáil when, as the Tánaiste explained yesterday, the Government will bring forward an amendment to section 3.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and Deputies for their support in the debate on the Bill.

See this speech in context