Written answers

Monday, 8 September 2025

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Driver Licences

Photo of Emer CurrieEmer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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300. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of disqualifications imposed on Irish licence holders in 2024 and to date in 2025 that were not possible to enforce as no match could be found to link the disqualification to the appropriate driver record resulting in a Shell record being created on the NVDF database; the number that have been removed from the Shell record as no match could be found within the disqualification period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45224/25]

Photo of Emer CurrieEmer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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301. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of disqualifications imposed on learner permit holders in 2024 and to date in 2025 that were not possible to enforce as no match could be found to link the disqualification to the appropriate driver record resulting in a Shell record being created on the NVDF database; the number that have been removed from the Shell record as a match could not be found within the disqualification period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45225/25]

Photo of Emer CurrieEmer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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302. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of Irish licence holders who incurred penalty points in 2024 and to date in 2025 resulting in a Shell record being created as it was not possible to match the penalty points to the appropriate driver record; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45226/25]

Photo of Seán CanneySeán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 300, 301 and 302 together.

The "shell" records consist of foreign-licensed drivers (who have no Irish licence), drivers who never had a licence, and drivers for whom a licence has not been presented. Due to the nature of the issue we do not have sufficient data on this latter cohort (drivers for whom a licence has not been presented) to determine if they are Irish licence holders or if they hold a learner permit. If an offence cannot be matched automatically to an Irish driver record, the National Driving Licence Service (NDLS), operated by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) undertake a manual search to attempt to match the record.

As the Garda Inspectorate Report explains, the primary cause for this inability to match is the failure of the individual to produce their driving licence in court. This matter is the responsibility of An Garda Siochana, the Department of Justice and the Courts Service, but my Department is supportive of any measures to address the issue as it will improve our subsequent ability to match offences to driver records.

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