A legal loophole has led to a driver who admitted using a mobile phone while driving being given a 24-hour driving ban and avoiding reaching the penalty points threshold involving a ban of up to six months.
Judge Desmond Zaidan granted the 24-hour ancillary disqualification order at Athy District Court last Tuesday in the wake of the enactment of a law, which has yet to be commenced, closing the loophole. The amending provision was included in the Road Traffic Act 2024 after the particular loophole was highlighted by The Irish Times more than a year ago.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan, reacting to the court order, told The Irish Times: “It is important that the statutory provision is now commenced by the minister so that the loophole can be closed and full effect is given to the intention of the Oireachtas.”
Barrister David Staunton, an expert on road traffic law, said Section 8A of the Road Traffic Act 2024, aimed at closing off the loophole in section 2.8 of the Road Traffic Act 2002, is among several provisions of the 2024 Act yet to be commenced.
A driver who reaches 12 penalty points must be disqualified from driving for six months but section 2.8 has been used by a small number of drivers to avoid that. The section provides, where a person admits, or is convicted of, a penalty points offence, and an ancillary disqualification order is made in respect of that offence, those points shall not be endorsed on the person’s licence.
The section does not specify a minimum period of disqualification for an ancillary order, which is discretionary, not mandatory, leaving it up to individual judges whether to grant one.
Drivers on seven or nine points who come before court after failing to pay the fine in a fixed-charge notice, and who admit or are convicted of the offence, face reaching the 12 points for endorsement and six months off the road. If they get an ancillary disqualification order for a short period, the points will not be endorsed and they can resume driving.
Judge Zaidan previously granted a number of similar applications brought by solicitor Tim Kennelly on behalf of drivers who faced exceeding the 12 penalty points threshold.
Last Tuesday, he was asked to grant a further application on behalf of a client of Mr Kennelly’s. After the judge inquired whether Section 8A had been commenced, and was informed it had not, he granted the application. There was no objection by gardaí to the application.
The case related to a woman who had admitted using a mobile phone while driving. An application to have her conviction set aside was subsequently brought and granted by Judge Zaidan at Naas District Court last July.
An application was then made for an ancillary 24 hour disqualification order. That was adjourned a number of times but the 24-hour order was granted when it came before Judge Zaidan last Tuesday. The woman was also fined €500, with three months to pay.
The penalty points system for driving offences was introduced in October 2002 with a view to improving driver behaviour and reducing the numbers who die or suffer serious injury on our roads.
Penalty points are described by the Road Safety Association as “essentially a formal reprimand” by the gardaí endorsed on a driving licence that shows a driver is guilty of a specific offence.
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