Over half of the fines imposed for illegal parking and failing to display tax or insurance discs are not collected and the root of the problem is the Garda and the Courts Service, a report says.
|
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General's office said: "most of these offences go unpunished because of weaknesses in the administration and management of fine cases by the Garda Síochána or the Courts Service".
In 1998, 84 per cent of motorists paid their on-the-spot speeding fines, while just 61 per cent of owners of vehicles found not to display a tax or insurance disc did so.
Unpaid fines are supposed to go through the district court but the report found that in 1998 over 20 per cent of parking and disc display fines were cancelled or allowed to lapse.
The report claimed that the incentive to pay on the spot fines was undermined by the failure to bring a large number of cases for court hearing.
Where cases did go to court, the report found that two out of every three summons cases were never heard.
The loss to Revenue in 1998 has been estimated at about £6.6 million.
