Seanad debates

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Road Transport Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

3:00 pm

Photo of Sean BarrettSean Barrett (Independent)

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 8, lines 40 to 42, to delete subsection (3).

Section 5(3) states:

A decision to suspend or withdraw a licensing document has effect pending an appeal under this section unless the judge of the District Court before whom the appeal is brought directs otherwise.

There should be a chance for the person to mount a defence. In transport, if the licence is withdrawn, that is the end of the income source for the person who is in the transport business. Therefore, it is somewhat draconian to suspend the penalty pending the appeal. While I have not got legal training, it has arisen in some of the other issues which have been referred to obliquely here that priests, against whom allegations are made, are suspended. It is a development that was not in the original formulation of the Bill which is the reason my next amendment seeks to keep section 6 of the Road Transport Act 1986. To suspend a person's livelihood, pending his appeal, is a very strong penalty. This is a business where one has to be with one's customers. They will find somebody else very quickly if one is suspended, even if one is subsequently exonerated in court.

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