Nearly one-in-seven motorists issued with penalty points notices for drink driving in the Republic claimed to hold an out-of-State driving licence in 2015.
Meanwhile, more than a tenth of those given penalty points for speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, or not wearing seat belts held non-Irish licences.
The figures include penalty points awarded to Northern Irish drivers – who have long been blamed for speeding offences in the southern Border counties.
The Department of Transport says drivers with foreign licences do have penalty points attached to them, though the Road Safety Authority says the points are held "in abeyance" until the drivers switch to an Irish licence.
The difficulty is the number of foreign licence holders who do not apply for an Irish licence, avoiding the demerit system by continually driving on a foreign licence.
Currently, holders of a driving licence issued in the European Economic Area – which includes the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – can drive in the Republic until the expiry of their domestic licence. If they are resident here, it should then be exchanged for an Irish one.
In addition Ireland has bilateral agreements with about 15 states including the Australia and Japan, whose citizens can drive for a year before exchanging their licence.
Ignoring demerits
A difficulty arises with drivers from Northern Ireland or elsewhere who regularly drive in the Republic but who are not based here, and would not normally exchange their licences for an Irish one.
Such motorists may ignore the Republic’s demerits system, even if they attend courts here and pay all relevant fines.
EU legislation does provide for the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications. However, this only applies where the licence is disqualified by the country that issues it. In a further complication the United Kingdom has opted out of this system.
A bilateral Ireland-UK agreement on the mutual recognition of driving bans is before the Houses of the Oireachtas, as part of the Road Traffic Bill 2016, but it is not yet law.
The Department of Transport said it was not known how many holders of foreign licences were driving in Ireland, as drivers are not required to register.
The Road Safety Authority said anecdotal evidence showed a significant increase in the number of holders of out-of-State licences in the last decade and a half.
But it notes Northern Irish motorists’ speeding records in the South. A 1996 to 2003 study found that fatal and serious collisions occurred more often along Border roads.
The spokesman said the issue of cross-Border recognition of driver disqualification and of penalty points was being considered at EU level and work was ongoing.
