Written answers

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Penalty Points System

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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669. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the full section 53 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 will be commenced; and the steps that need to be taken to facilitate the commencement of the provision so that any driver who commits an offence attracting penalty points and who produces a non-Irish driving licence will have those penalty points applied to their licence. [6565/14]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 was designed to address the problem of penalty points which could not be associated with a driver licence record.  On reflection, it was considered that the provision as passed required redrafting in order to make it practical. The section, therefore, could not be commenced in full.  For this reason, the Road Traffic (No. 2) Bill 2013, which has passed through the Dáil and is currently before the Seanad, will repeal section 53 and replace its provisions.

The National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF) of my Department can associate penalty points with the licence record of Irish Licence holders and, since the commencement of Section 56 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 on 1 June 2011, records relating to the holders of foreign licences.   

The provisions replacing section 53 of the Act of 2010 will also allow for the situation where penalty points cannot be associated with a record because no such record exists, in other words where the person does not hold a licence or where licence details are not known. Under the new arrangements, penalty points will be assigned when such persons subsequently obtain licences or the licence details become known at a later date.  I understand that there are some cases where a person has an Irish licence but fails to produce it in court, and therefore any points imposed cannot, at that time, be associated with a licence record.  The new provisions will ensure that, where a record is subsequently identified with which those points can be associated, this will be done.

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