John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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204. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason penalty points are not applied to a person's licence from the date of the offence, for example, if a person caught speeding on 22 April 2014 pay their fine the points are only applied to the person's licence from 14 July 2014; the reason for the delay in applying the point; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27571/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The penalty point endorsement of driver licences is set out in Sections 5 and 7 of the Road Traffic Act 2002. Penalty points are endorsed on a driver's licence following either the payment of a fixed charge notice or a conviction in court of the person of a penalty point offence. A notice is sent to the licence holder to inform them that the penalty points will be endorsed on their licence beginning on the appropriate date, and will remain on the driver's licence for a period of 3 years. The legislation provides that the appropriate date is 28 days from the date of this notice.  

The provisions in the 2002 Act, in relation to the appropriate date, recognise that as a result of the endorsement of penalty points, a person may face the application of an automatic disqualification from driving. Section 3 of the Act establishes that where a person accumulates at least 12 penalty points, he or she will be disqualified for a period of 6 months.