Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Transport the progress made on the mutual recognition of penalty points between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; and the reason for the ongoing delay. [41666/06]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The North South Work Programme, as agreed by the North South Ministerial Council, included a commitment to examine the mutual recognition of penalty points between the Republic of Ireland and the North. However, in addition to the fact that separate penalty point systems operate in the two jurisdictions on this island, the system that operates in Northern Ireland differs from that applying in Great Britain. For that reason, it was agreed that it would be more appropriate to pursue the question of mutual recognition of penalty points on the basis of the operation of the three systems and that it would also be more appropriate that it would be dealt with under the auspices of the British-Irish Council.

As Northern Ireland has the lead role for transport matters in the BIC, the authorities in that jurisdiction are taking the lead in considering this issue. It was agreed at the British-Irish Council meeting on the 9 February last that officials should examine the prospects for greater co-operation in the treatment of road traffic infringements where the penalty falls short of disqualification. Arising from work in this area I have agreed with the UK Minister for State for Transport the terms of reference proposed for a study of the feasibility of greater cooperation between us in relation to lesser road traffic infringements with a view to our officials undertaking a study on this basis and reporting back to us next year.