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

These amendments are designed to allow the Revenue Commissioners to issue fixed-charge notices in certain circumstances. To explain the background, in 2002 the system of fixed-charge notices for certain offences relating to traffic and vehicles was introduced. Under this system, which applies to lesser offences, An Garda Síochána issued a fixed-charge notice in advance of taking a case to court. The recipient has 28 days to pay the charge and then a further 28 days to pay the charge, plus 50%. Only if there is no payment after 56 days will court proceedings be initiated.

The legislative basis for this system was updated in the Road Traffic Act 2010, making a number of changes, including the so-called "third payment" option, which means that when people get a summons, they also get a third and final chance to pay the fixed charge, plus 100%, and have court proceedings discontinued. The 2010 Act states that offences under section 139 of the Finance Act 1992 were to be fixed-charge offences. The intention was for offences relating to number plates to be fixed-charge offences.

However, there was a mistake in what was done in 2010 and also an unintended consequence. The mistake was to declare all offences under section 139 to be fixed-charge offences. This was never the intention and section 13(j) of the Bill rectifies this by specifying that it is only offences under sections 139(1)(b), (bb), and (c), the number plate offences, which are fixed-charge offences. Specifically, these offences relate to not displaying the registration plate or displaying it in a manner not corresponding with regulations, where a vehicle is unregistered, to use it in public places in contravention of prescribed conditions and to display a false registration.

The unintended consequences of the 2010 provisions were that the Revenue Commissioners, who used to have powers to enforce number plate offences, lost that power. Remember that registration of vehicles and assigning of registration numbers are tasks carried out by Revenue. When the 2010 Act provisions were brought in, they meant that no action could be taken in court under section 139 offences until the Garda had issued a fixed-charge notice and 56 days had passed without payment. At that point, the Garda could begin court proceedings.

It was never intended that the Revenue Commissioners would lose the power of enforcement over these offences. Either the Garda or Revenue could enforce them before the 2010 provisions came in. The mistake in making all section 139 offences, and not just the number plate offences, into fixed-charge offences compounded the problem. As I said, the Bill already addresses that mistake.

In order to restore the Revenue Commissioners' ability to enforce the registration plate offences, I am proposing the present amendments to allow them to issue fixed-charge notices in these cases. The amendments proposed now are to Part 3 of the 2010 Act, which deals with fixed-charge notices. In essence, they add in powers for the Revenue Commissioners so that they will be able to issue fixed-charge notices for number plate offences. This will restore their ability to enforce these offences, which had existed before the enactment of the 2010 provisions, and will mean that, as was the case before those provisions, both the Garda and the Revenue Commissioners will be able to act against those offences when they detect them.