The Courts Service has said driving licences should be tied to vehicle ownership to resolve a loophole which resulted in 21,154 drivers escaping penalty points in the 18 months to last June.
The chief executive of the Courts Service Brendan Ryan was questioned by the Public Accounts Committee on the issue, which has meant that no penalty points could be applied to drivers' licences in two-thirds of penalty point offences that came before the courts between January 2013 and June 2014.
Mr Ryan explained that, where fixed charged penalty points were issued, a notice is sent to the driver (where he or she has been stopped by a garda) or to the registered owner of the vehicle, where the detection is made by a camera.
Fine issued
After the notice is issued the driver has up to 56 days to pay a fine, after which a summons is issued by the Courts Service.
Mr Ryan said that under current legislation the Courts Service is required to collect sufficient information on the individual – the driving licence number – to ensure penalty points are applied appropriately. However, he said for this to happen the Courts Service first has to rely on the individual appearing before the courts and, second, on the individual bringing his or her driving licence and a legible copy of it into court.
Traffic offence
“When an accused person is convicted in his [or her] absence of a road traffic offence, which is a regular occurrence . . . the court service is not in any position to collect his or her driving licence,” he explained.
Similarly in cases where individuals do not bring their licence details into court, Mr Ryan said “there is not much we can do”. He added that discussions were ongoing with the Garda about a mechanism that would allow prosecutions to be brought against such individuals in future.
Mr Ryan said the collection of driving licence numbers in court was, in the view of the Courts Service, "inefficient and more importantly ineffective" and that the "specific difficulties" had been flagged with the Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority. "We feel that the National Vehicle Driving file and the motor tax file . . . should be linked," Mr Ryan said, adding this would effectively address the issue as driver licence information would be available at the point of detection.