Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A total of 65 fixed penalty payment notices were issued in 2022 and 146 prosecutions were taken at the District Court. In 2022, the NTA initiated 54 prosecutions of individuals operating an entirely unlicensed SPSV service without either an SPSV driver licence or a vehicle licence. This was in addition to its prosecution of persons operating on expired SPSV licences. I am informed that,to date this year, 30 files have been submitted for consideration of prosecution of those having no SPSV licences, which is a separate issue, along with those operating on expired licences. I hope this clarifies the matter.

The regulation of the industry, enforcement and compliance is a matter for the NTA. On reading the script, I see how complicated it is to get a successful prosecution because we are relying on the person to come forward and give evidence of proof of payment and not alone have to make the initial complaint but also make a statement to An Garda Síochána or the NTA and be willing to give evidence in court if called upon. That is a complicated process and I can understand why the number of prosecutions is so low. I do not know whether that can be dealt with in some other way but I can see why the rate of prosecutions is quite low. Once someone is before the court in respect of a criminal offence, he or she is entitled to contest the evidence against him or her. The NTA can only bring a case where it has evidence. Otherwise, it will lose that case. I thank the Deputy for highlighting the matter again and I will speak to the Minister for Transport at the first opportunity.

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