Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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11. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on the actions he is taking to progress the enactment of section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 2010; if he is seeking sanction, in conjunction with the Department for Justice and Equality, to have the necessary resources allocated in order that the outstanding technical and administrative issues to give effect to the section may be resolved. [36634/14]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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I congratulate the Minister and the Ministers of State, in particular Deputy Ann Phelan.

Section 44 of the 2010 Act, as the Minister well knows, refers to the third payment option, whereby people who have been summoned to court to face a fine for penalty point offences can avail of a third chance to pay the fine before the matter goes to court. Recently people have found that that option is particularly important. The Minister provided figures for last year which showed that the vast bulk of people escaped conviction and penalty points. Both he and his predecessor have constantly quoted administrative and technical difficulties in implementing the section. Can it now be implemented?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 provides, as the Deputy said, for the introduction of a third payment option within the fixed charge processing system. Under this mechanism, a person who is served with a summons for a fixed charge offence will have a final opportunity to pay the charge, of an amount 100% greater than the original penalty, not later than seven days before the court date on which the charge is to be heard. If a person takes up this option, proceedings are discontinued and he or she need not attend. The provision is intended to address those circumstances where persons receive a summons but state in court they did not receive the earlier fixed charge notice. Commencement of the section will also make it possible to commence a number of other linked measures designed to improve the enforcement of fixed charge notices.  

A subgroup of the criminal justice working group is continuing to examine how best to bring this provision into effect, including the substantial technical and administrative arrangements required, and has drafted an outline implementation plan, including a preliminary financial analysis. While it is not possible to indicate a precise date for implementation, this matter will be progressed as quickly as possible under the auspices of the working group.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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The reality is that the Minister's predecessor, the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, dropped the ball and did not implement the section. The issue has been ongoing since the previous Administration. There is a need for a sense of urgency. As I mentioned, a number of weeks ago the Minister told me that of the almost 48,000 people summoned to court in 2013 for offences attracting penalty points, only 11,055 had received convictions. In the first seven months of this year, of the 32,000 people summoned to court for these offences, only 7,977 received convictions. This is a real issue. As the Minister knows, the backdrop to it is provided by the road casualty figures for last year which, unfortunately, regressed and are regressing further this year. The Minister is now at the wheel in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

I acknowledge that it is very complex in relation to how the Minister's Department works with the Department of Justice and Equality, but there is an onus on him to ensure he is not coming back here to say the matter is administrative and technical. He must get the working group to report as a matter of urgency and then implement the report.

The Minister might come back to me on section 12 of the Road Traffic Act 2014 which provides for the taking of a specimen of blood in hospital from an incapacitated driver following a crash. When is it intended to implement that provision? People believe it is very important to deter the mayhem which, unfortunately, continues to happen on the roads.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I agree entirely that we need to do all we can to reduce the numbers of casualties and collisions on the roads. I mentioned in response to Deputy John Halligan that the number of collisions, as at 30 September, was down by five on the same date last year, while the number of fatalities is down by four. However, far too many people continue to be seriously injured and lose their lives. I will have to come back to the Deputy on the specific question he put to me on section 12. I will write to him to answer his question on the issue.

Regarding implementation of section 44, I have looked into exactly this issue. My predecessor, Deputy Leo Varadkar, was well aware of the urgency of it and no ball was dropped in relation to it. We are looking at how two very large and complicated systems come together. We have the summons system within the courts and the fixed charge processing system operated by An Garda Síochána. The two systems together generate hundreds of thousands of notices each year. I am reverting back to the sub-group to emphasise again the urgency that must be demonstrated to make this happen. However, it must be done within two parameters. First, it must be at an affordable and appropriate cost to the State and, second, the method of implementation developed must be one which does not put at risk the current level of implementation within the system and its current level of effectiveness.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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The Minister mentioned cost, but he will have seen in his briefing documents since becoming Minister that each fatality costs the nation over €2 million, besides the incredible and devastating impact on families. There is no question that the cost-benefit analysis would encourage him to implement the section urgently. While efforts were made at the justice working group under the Minister's predecessor and the previous Minister for Justice and Equality, there are still issues about how the Courts Service implements the penalty points legislation. The House has done its job in passing the legislation and it is now for the Courts Service and An Garda Síochána to enforce it and the Minister's Department to invigilate it. While I welcome the figures provided for the numbers of crashes and collisions this year, there is still an onus to ensure the two Departments work smoothly together and that people who have earned penalty points for careless driving and misbehaving with mobile phones, etc. have them applied to their licences immediately. I urge the Minister again to ask the working group to deliver on and implement section 44, as well as section 12 of the 2014 Act.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy that there is no financial cost that is comparable to the cost of losing a life. I accept the point, but in order for me to see the project go ahead, I must see a final cost for it. There will be significant capital and current costs involved in a system that will be integrating two other systems which currently handle hundreds of thousands of cases each year and are integral to how this part of the justice system works. Whatever is recommended must meet two criteria. First, I must know what the cost will be. We must be satisfied once that cost is in place that it is an appropriate use of taxpayers' money. Second, we must put in place a system that will work at least as well as what is in place, although we obviously want to do something that will work a great deal better. I will do what I have said and communicate again to the working group in this area my intention to see this work completed promptly to ensure we put in place a system that will address the issue of which the Deputy and I are aware.