Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The texter is correct. I was uncertain as to that fact. Our office pushed for the increase in fines. As I said, we have never been shy about trying to protect this. To respond to Senator Higgins, when I speak about dangerous driving I am concerned about the people and not the vehicle. We also try to protect vehicles but we are all of a similar view that it is the human being we are looking to protect in how we regulate dangerous driving.

There is an important point on the use of penalty points and how we designate certain tools to protect people. I believe there is a benefit in focusing fines or penalty points for parking. They are completely different approaches with regard to taking people off the road. My concern is that we might dilute some of the effect and what I believe has been the significant role of penalty points in driving behaviour. If we broaden it out there is a risk that we could dilute or lose some of it. It is a subjective call. My call is that we are best to take this approach. There may be instances where there is dangerous parking. Again, this is a judgment call. It is for the courts or others to decide what is appropriate.

Senator Boyhan said that people do not pay attention to fines and that people can accumulate multiple fines and he is right. The fines are actually much higher now than were originally quoted in the response I had drafted. In these circumstances, someone using disability parking bays would start running into fines of thousands of euro. This would have a deterrent effect on people's behaviour. In a number of jurisdictions clamping as well as fines has an effect. No matter how wealthy people are, they have the same feeling when they see their vehicle clamped and they cannot move. There are various ways in which we can provide dissuasive measures. I am not convinced that broadening the scope of penalty points, which might dilute some of the impact they have on driving behaviour, is the approach to take. This is where we differ. The Senator is welcome to press the amendment but I will not agree to it.