Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the operation to date by the Garda of the expanded penalty points system to cover an additional 31 offences; if the national driver file and Garda PULSE system have been linked up; the information which will be available to gardaí stopping drivers on the number of penalty points they may have acquired. [15668/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Since the introduction of the new penalty points offences on 3 April, a total of 3,661 fixed charge notices issued for road traffic offences for the nine days up to 12 April. Of these, speeding accounted for 1,738 notices, non-wearing of seat belts for 382 notices and new offences, introduced on 3 April 2006, for 1,541 notices.

An additional 60 members of the Garda Síochána, as well as 28 new vehicles, have been allocated to the traffic corps in the first quarter of this year. It is intended that the numbers in the traffic corps will be increased by 60 each quarter this year, to reach a total complement of 805 at the end of 2006. Between now and 2008, the traffic corps will increase its numbers to a complement of 1,200.

The Garda Síochána is supplied with an electronic copy of the national driver file by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for the purpose of processing payments in respect of fixed-charge penalty point offences. Details of payment received by the Garda Síochána in respect of fixed-charge penalty point offences are forwarded to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for the purpose of applying penalty points to the driver licence record.

Hand-held terminals have been provided for the capture of data on fixed-charge incidents at the roadside so that the data can be efficiently and accurately uploaded to the fixed charge processing system. The Garda authorities are currently examining ways to allow gardaí to access certain data, such as disqualifications, from the national driver file using this hand-held technology.