Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Transport the reason the Garda PULSE system and the database of penalty points have not been properly linked; and the reason a company (details supplied) is still processing penalty point offences following notification of the abandonment of its involvement some weeks ago. [29910/06]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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When the penalty point system was introduced in 2002 the company referred to was engaged to convert data received in manual format from an Garda Síochána to electronic format for transmission to the Vehicle Registration Unit of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for recording on an individual's licence record in the National Driver File.

When the Garda Fixed Charge Processing System became fully operational in April this year a process of converting over to a direct electronic transfer of data from an Garda Síochána to the National Driver File was put in place. For technical reasons the direct transfer could not take place until all manual receipts generated by the former manual receipt system operated by the Gardaí had been dealt with. This process is now almost complete and I understand that direct electronic transfer of data from an Garda Síochána to the National Driver File will commence shortly.

There is no direct link between the Garda PULSE system and the penalty point database as it is not necessary for a Garda to know how many penalty points are on a person's record. Where a person reaches 12 points and is disqualified the Gardaí are notified and this information is entered on the PULSE system.