Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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5. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the work he is undertaking to ensure that disqualified drivers do not continue to drive and that their licences are surrendered as mandated in the courts to the court clerk; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21248/19]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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There is an ongoing scandal of disqualified drivers continuing to drive. It has been highlighted continuously by road safety activists such as Ms Susan Gray and the PARC road safety group, yet the figures are stark. The Minister's colleague, Deputy Burke, reported that approximately 83,000 licences of banned drivers were not surrendered in the past eight years. The Minister gave me figures for the past two or three years which are equally stark. Is it not past time that the Road Safety Authority, RSA, the Garda, the Courts Service and the information technology systems worked together coherently to end this problem once and for all?

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Broughan makes a very important point. I am seriously concerned about this issue. It was discussed in detail by the Garda Commissioner with the Committee of Public Accounts last Thursday. I am in complete agreement with the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, that this behaviour is a blatant abuse of the criminal justice process.

Under the Road Traffic Acts, the penalty for driving while disqualified is a fine up to a maximum of €5,000 and-or a prison term of up to six months. It is a legal requirement for those disqualified to return their licences to the licensing authority, that is, the Road Safety Authority.

As the Deputy will be aware, the penalty for failing to do so is a fine up to a maximum of €1,000 for a first offence, and up to €2,000 for a second or subsequent offence. There can be no argument that the numbers of those failing to comply with the surrender of his or her licence are nothing short of shocking and I agree that we need to act to ensure this is dealt with speedily and comprehensively. However, while the figures are of concern, I am informed that they do not necessarily correlate to the number of persons driving while disqualified. Failure to surrender a licence does not necessarily mean that person continues to drive during the period of disqualification. Equally, a person may surrender a licence but choose to flout the law and continue to drive illegally. Therefore, it is important that gardaí have the ability to detect in a timely manner those who decide to drive without a valid licence.

As the Commissioner pointed out, the Garda ACTIVE Mobility project will greatly assist gardaí in ascertaining the current status of a licence at the roadside. The system will allow Garda members to take an image of a licence, or input the data manually, at which point front-line gardaí will be immediately notified as to whether the licence is valid or not. I am informed that the current aim is that 2,000 of the new handheld devices will be issued by the end of the year. Of course, it is crucial that the data which underpin these devices are up to date, and I understand that An Garda Síochána is continuing to work with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, which holds the driver licence data to this end.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Banned drivers are involved in between 11 and 14 deaths every year, and 500 banned drivers were involved in serious crashes in a two-year period in the middle of this decade. The Minister's figures are incredibly stark. Before Christmas, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, told me that in 2016 the number of drivers with a court disqualification was 8,296; driver licences surrendered amounted to only 1,035; the number of drivers with penalty point disqualifications was 1,054; and the driver licences surrendered numbered only 476. The figures for 2017 were very similar, with 9,449 court disqualifications and a similar number of refusals to surrender licences. The last figures the Minister gave me, up to September of last year, present a similarly dire situation. We have heard about the handheld devices and I note the comments the Commissioner, Drew Harris, made to the Committee of Public Accounts about the list of policing priorities for 2019, which I welcome. Can we see some real action on this?

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I share the Deputy's concern and these figures are stark and totally unacceptable. I wish to acknowledge the importance of enforcement, which is crucial. The development and supply of handheld devices under the Garda mobility strategy will facilitate more effective road traffic enforcement via front-line access and real-time information, including relating to drivers who may be disqualified. I also acknowledge the importance of the implementation of the strategy. This is currently being rolled out on a phased basis and it is expected that the 2,000 mobile devices will be given to members of the Garda national roads policing bureau by the end of this year. This is underpinned by resources in the amount of €1.5 million in current spending in budget 2019, which will allow for the roll-out of the mobility project to commence. I am happy to keep the Deputy informed and I have raised it with the Road Safety Authority as well as my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. I agree that the practice is totally unacceptable and needs to be addressed urgently.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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The list of policing priorities for 2019, which Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has reported to the Oireachtas, is very interesting and includes policing our roads, safeguarding road users, denying criminals the use of roads and spot checks on roads. These are very important as they help to identify disqualified drivers and alert us to criminal behaviour. The head of the RSA, Ms Moyagh Murdock, addressed the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport and said the level of compliance was entirely unacceptable and demonstrated a disregard of, and disrespect for, road traffic legislation from those individuals. She drew a contrast with Northern Ireland where, she said, there seemed to be a far less cumbersome system in which a licence was surrendered there and then, in the court. Even when an appeal is possible, the licence is retained by the court. This is another example of where Northern Ireland appears to be ahead of us in policing terms.

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I attend, on a regular basis, the joint ministerial meeting with Ms Murdock and her team, as well as other stakeholders and departments, and this is an issue I would be happy to pursue on an urgent basis. As noted by the Committee of Public Accounts last Thursday, An Garda Síochána is currently preparing a series of actions to address the issue of the non-surrender of licences, which will cover both enforcement - or the lack of enforcement, as Deputy Broughan might refer to it - and public awareness. I have requested a Garda report on this matter and I will closely monitor developments in this regard. In the meantime I am informed that, as an interim solution, An Garda Síochána has developed a report whereby members can search for disqualified drivers in particular geographical areas, thereby assisting local enforcement. We have handheld devices and data updating and An Garda Síochána will target particular local geographical areas where there may be acute instances of what are totally unacceptable practices.