Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

Amendment No. 8 would require that any certificate issued by the Department certifying that a particular operator was or was not licensed on a particular date would have to be accompanied by actual proof of the signature of the person in the Department who signed it. Currently, subsection (3) uses the standard wording for the provision in these kinds of certificates and legislation generally. These certificates are typically only provided by the Department to the Garda or the RSA when they are prosecuting somebody for operating without a licence. The certificate would state that on a particular date, the date the garda stopped the operator at a road side check, the person in question did or did not have a licence. The certificate is signed by the official dealing with the certificate. If the certificate states that the operator did not have a licence, it is then presented to the court as evidence. The certificate is taken at face value by the courts since the current legislation providing for them states: "The certificate shall, without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate, be evidence of the matter certified by the certificate." The amendment would require proof of the signature to be presented to the court. This could involve the official having to travel to the court every time any such certificate was presented. Such a provision would be very unusual and would make enforcement very difficult. In addition, it would be extremely time-consuming and inefficient.