Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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646. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the total number of vehicles seized per year by An Garda Síochána after the driver was found to be driving without insurance in each of the years 2017 to 2021, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9641/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible by law for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including operational policing matters. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.

The table below, provided to me by the Garda authorities, outlines a yearly breakdown of the numbers of incidents in which a vehicle was seized under Section 41 of the Road Traffic Act for reason of driving without insurance.

I am advised that the above figures are based on incidents which occurred from 01/01/2017 to 31/12/2021, inclusive. The Deputy will appreciate that these figures are based upon operational data from the Pulse system as was available on 21/02/2022 and are liable to change.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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647. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the total number of uninsured vehicles which have been identified by An Garda Síochána using the automatic number-plate recognition system to date; the total number of fines issued to those motorists; the total number of convictions; the total number of vehicles seized; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9642/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions, which include the provision of information on the courts system.

I have contacted the Courts Service and have been provided with the below table, which outlines the number of offences and persons for no insurance where convictions were recorded for the period 2017 – 2021; and the number & value of fines imposed for no insurance for the period 2017 – 2021.

The Deputy will appreciate that the Courts Service can only provide data in relation to where offence codes provided on the system were used by prosecutors. Prosecutors may have used uncoded free text offences and any such offences would not be included in the data provided.

The number of offences and persons convicted for no insurance recorded for the period 2017 – 2021

The number and value of fines imposed for no insurance for the period 2017 – 2021

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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648. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the average hourly and daily number of uninsured vehicles that are identified by An Garda Síochána through the use of the automatic number-plate recognition system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9643/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.

I am informed the Garda authorities that Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) was first introduced by the Garda authorities in 2008 and is used on a daily basis to assist in the prevention and detection of crime on our roads network. I am further informed that the uninsured watch list on the ANPR system has been live since 12 July 2019, and records are available on the ANPR system since that date.

I am advised that since 12 July 2019, an average of 128 uninsured vehicles have been identified by An Garda Síochána per day through the use of ANPR which is approximately 5 per hour over a twenty-four hour period.

The Deputy will appreciate that the values vary greatly depending on the time of day and the day of the week.

The tables below, which have been provided to me by the Garda authorities, set out the average number of uninsured vehicles detected on the ANPR System on both a daily and hourly basis.

Daily breakdown

Hourly breakdown

This is the breakdown based on an average daily number of identified uninsured vehicles.

I am advised that the above figures are based on records from 12/07/2019 to 31/12/2021, inclusive. I am further advised that these figures are based upon operational data from the ANPR System as was available on 18/02/2022 and is liable to change.