Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 7, between lines 19 and 20 to insert the following;"(c) in section 38(5) by the insertion of the following paragraph:

"(c) a person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand Euro, or at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment," ".

I welcome the Minister to the House. The number of fatalities on our roads up to yesterday was 21, which is an increase on the 15 fatalities in the same period in 2012 and a decrease on the 27 fatalities last year. I am not sure how this year is shaping up in that regard but it is a year in which the Minister will have our full support in addressing this major problem, particularly in terms of the deaths of young men. Anything we can do to assist the Minister and his officials in achieving their goal will be forthcoming from this side.

This amendment deals with penalties and seeks amendment of section 38(1) of the 1961 Act which states: "A person shall not drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place unless he holds a driving licence for the time being".

The kinds of penalties mentioned in the following page are a fine not exceeding £100 in lieu of punishment mentioned in section 102 of the Act. Section 102 refers to fines of £20 and £50, and a term of imprisonment. On Committee Stage, I expressed concern that the penalty for driving without a driving licence seemed inadequate for dealing with the problems the Minister is confronting. The value of a pound in 1961 is now down to a little more than 5% of the pound or the euro - the CSO presents it in both forms.

We discussed some numbers, which indicated there was a considerable amount of driving without driving licences. The Minister clarified the point and it pertains to amendment No. 2. If the value of money has declined by a factor of 20 and there are such fines on the Statute Book, they are not acting as a deterrent. I presume we are just as anxious not to have dangerous driving and driving without a licence in this time as was the case back in 1961.

Regarding the stress on the fine, I have some qualms about disqualification. If I go into somebody's shop and engage in a crime there, people do not regard being disqualified from visiting the shop as being an appropriate penalty - it is necessary to do something else. Is disqualification sufficient and are these fines too low? The fine we have proposed here is less in real terms than the Minister's predecessors set back in 1961. While I know the Minister will revise this legislation later in the year, it raises a general question as to what we do when inflation, as in this case, dramatically erodes the fines set by the Parliament. Even over such a relatively short period, that fine seems to have been seriously eroded.

Those were the points I put to the Minister. While I can appreciate why disqualification happens in this case, it is not normally considered a deterrent in itself. Should there be a fine attached? Has the value of the fines not deteriorated by 19 units out of 20 as a result of inflation since those fines were written into the legislation in 1961?