Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I note Senator Susan O'Keeffe's comments on penalty points. Will the Minister for Justice and Equality come to the House to debate the material that is coming to light, including the report that will be published later and the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Garda Inspectorate? The problem the House highlighted, with which the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport agreed, was the categorisation of penalty points attributed to no licence. That seems to have been due to people, advisedly or otherwise, not bringing their licences with them to court which resulted in the penalty points not being applied to them. In 2012 approximately 40% of motorists avoided penalty points through this loophole. Between 2010 and 2012 a total of 84,000 people claimed they had no licence to ensure penalty points would not be applied. The number of penalty point offences increased from 235,000 to 319,000 during that period. We, therefore, need to close that loophole. When the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport was in the House, he said this desperately needed to be done and that he was open to ideas. The fact that 84,000 motorists avoided penalty points in this way over two years and that almost 40% of drivers used this loophole to escape in 2012 means that all those interested in road safety should not allow it to remain for one minute longer.