Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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545. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to reform the legislation which allows for the imposition of penalty points; his views on whether it is reasonable to double the penalty points for a motorist who loses an appeal to the courts; if he will introduce a system whereby both fine and penalty points are relinquished in the case of motorists who undertake a driver awareness course, as is the case in the UK and Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17164/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​One of the main features of the penalty points and fixed charge system is the opportunity for a person to pay a charge where they have been detected committing certain offences under the Road Traffic Acts. The payment of the charge is an administrative provision that acts as an alternative to going to court.

When a driver pays the charge, they are accepting responsibility for the commission of the offence, and are allocated a reduced number of penalty points. The purpose of this is to avoid court time being taken up unnecessarily due to cases where there is no disputing the guilt of the individual in question. This frees up the courts to deal with more serious matters, as well as reducing the administrative and time burden on members of the Garda Síochána in prosecuting such cases. Where people feel that they did not commit the offence, they can go to court.

In relation to your query on a driver awareness course, the Road Safety Strategy 2013 – 2020 includes an action to "legislate for, subject to legal advice, and implement rehabilitation and driving awareness courses as court-based sentencing options for repeat offenders".

While the Road Safety Authority recently submitted a position paper in relation to this action, it is being recalled by the Authority for some further work. I look forward to the results of its work.