A unified penalty points systems covering drivers in the Republic, Northern Ireland and Britain could be in operation by this summer, a meeting of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body heard here yesterday.
Labour peer Lord Dubs said there was a high rate of crashes all over Ireland, and the penalty points systems should be compatible.
Once they crossed borders many drivers tended to drive dangerously, and a co-ordinated and unified all-Ireland approach was necessary.
He said some drivers were speeding with impunity, because without the availability of data from another jurisdictions, it was too difficult for the police to pursue them.
The introduction of such a system was not as simple as it seemed as not even a mutual disqualification system existed at present, Lord Dubs said.
However, the legal process to ensure that someone disqualified in the Republic was also banned in the North and vice versa had started, and could be implemented by the summer. Already a driver disqualified in Northern Ireland was also disqualified in Britain.
Several Oireachtas members from Border areas, including senators Dominic Hannigan and Cecilia Keaveney and deputies Fergus O'Dowd, Rory O'Hanlon and Seymour Crawford, spoke of the problems cross-Border drivers going in both directions were causing in their areas.
Mr O'Dowd said about one in four people who got penalty points in the Republic could not have them registered against them, and 15 per cent of drivers had no insurance.
He said uninsured cars should be seized, but the data to check them was not available.
The situation required urgent action, he said.