Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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1086. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Questions No. 160 of 24 January 2013, and No. 435 of 26 March 2013, if he has received an updated report on the enforcement of section 63 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 as it was indicated previously that a report of this kind would be provided to his Department by the end of July 2013; if he will comment on the contents of the update provided to him and his views on same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37798/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Courts Service has put in place arrangements to ensure that summonses issued since May 2012 include wording to advise persons charged with an offence under the Road Traffic Acts to bring their driving licence together with a photocopy of the licence when they are attending court. I am informed that the Courts Service has communicated with the judiciary to facilitate an arrangement that defendants who appear before the court are requested in court to produce their driving licence and a copy thereof to the court registrar for the purpose of having the driving licence number recorded. Additionally, Registrars have been requested to record whether or not the licence or a copy thereof was produced to the court. Where the driving licence number is recorded and on conviction the details are provided to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

The Courts Service has reported that there has been an increase in the number of driving licence numbers collected since the initiatives above have been implemented. The table below provides details of driving licence numbers collected in March, April, May and June 2013. For comparative purposes similar data is provided for May, June and July 2012. In both cases the figures do not include mandatory court appearances.

To date there have been no prosecutions for failure to produce driving licences to the Court. However, I am informed that the Courts Service are putting in place arrangements whereby the Garda Siochana will be notified of instances where no licence was produced to the court, including where the person does not appear in court. It will then be a matter for the Gardai to decide to initiate prosecutions in such instances.