Derek McDowell (Labour)

I would be obliged if the Minister of State would talk us through how the process will work. I appreciate that the section refers to contracting out only the administrative part of the function, but I am not clear where such administration will stop and decision making will start. What will happen to the database of information? If we contract out the serving of notices and so on, presumably it will be incumbent on the company, local authority or whoever does this work to maintain the database of the number of people on whom they serve notices. If the fixed penalty is not paid, will that information come back to the contractors or to the Garda Síochána? I presume the information will have to be at least shared with the Garda Síochána.

I listened, as I am sure did other Members, to the Comptroller and Auditor General speak at a committee meeting a few weeks ago. His exposé in this regard was remarkable and he was anxious not to place too much of the blame on the Garda Síochána or anybody else but rather to highlight the fact that there were deficiencies in the system.

It would be useful for the Minister of State to take us through the system from start to finish, from the point where a person is guilty of doing something which incurs penalty points to the point where if the person does not pay the fixed penalty, he or she will end up in court. What will happen to the information in question and to its storage in that intervening period?