Report advises addressing penalty point loopholes

Wednesday 12 March 2014 13.08

The Garda Inspectorate report on the fixed charge notice system recommends that the Department of Transport address the legal difficulties in imposing penalty points on the drivers of company cars, hire cars and unregistered vehicles.

The report says consideration should be given to enacting new legislation imposing heavy penalties on companies that refuse to name offending drivers.

The report was due to be published at 4pm but the inspectorate said this afternoon that the publication had been delayed.

The inspectorate also recommends gardaí who breach road traffic regulations while on duty without cause be disciplined.

It recommends that the summons service process be reviewed to establish why so many summons are not served.

In cases involving off-duty gardaí, it recommends that a superior officer be notified of any detection, as it could impact on his or her assignment duty.

The report contains case histories and recommendations for change in the statutory bodies that have a role in the operation of the penalty points system.

It details a number of cases where penalty points should not have been cancelled.

For example, one case of a taxi driver who had five cancellations in ten months and another case where a driver had three notices cancelled, two on consecutive days, because he claimed he was late for work.

The inspectorate has also recommended that a consolidated manual on the Fixed Charge Notices system be produced within six weeks.

It recommends that the inspectorate conduct a full review of the management of the penalty points system in 12 months' time.

The Garda Inspectorate spent eight months investigating how the penalty points system works in practice and how it could be improved.

In response, the Department of Transport has said it is keen for the issue to be sorted out, as it is waiting for legislation to be formally implemented.

It said: "The Department of Transport passed legislation to tighten up the imposition of penalty points on company and hire cars in 2010 but it has not been possible to formally implement this legislation without formal agreement from the Courts Service and the Gardaí on related areas."

Martin questions leaking of report

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach about the report being leaked to RTÉ in advance of consideration by the Cabinet.

Speaking during Leaders' Questions, Mr Martin said it brought the Government's levels of news management and damage limitation to new levels.

He said the report indicates administrative dysfunction and failure of management oversight. He said it appears to be a vindication of the whistleblowers, John Wilson and Maurice McCabe.

Mr Martin called on the Taoiseach to apologise to Mr Wilson and Sgt McCabe if Mr Shatter does not.

He said: "In the light of this report, could you ask him to apologise unequivocally for his comments ... his misleading comments and undermining the whistleblowers concerned.

"If he can't Taoiseach, can you apologise on behalf of the Government for the treatment meted out to these particular whistleblowers on this very specific issue."

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he has not seen the report and it will be presented to the Cabinet this afternoon by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.

Mr Kenny said the report and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission review will mean this matter will have intensive and focused scrutiny about how it should operate.

He said the "dysfunctionality" will now be the subject of serious focus.

Mr Kenny said: "I hope that following the implementation of all the recommendations from the Mahoney report, the Inspectorate report and the GSOC report to follow, that there will be a system that will be fair, accountable, transparent and not subject to either celebrity or political interference."

Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the report leaves Minister Shatter with serious questions to answer.

Former garda ombudsman criticises political parties

Earlier, a former garda ombudsman criticised politicians of all parties for not addressing the problems within the penalty points system when they were first highlighted over six years ago.

Conor Brady said GSOC carried out an investigation into the operation of the system in 2007.

It found it to be utterly dysfunctional and ineffective and that only 17% of all cases were brought to a conclusion.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today programme, Mr Brady also said the report was laid before the Oireachtas, but no politician referred to it.

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