ALMOST 30,000 cases of drivers from outside the Republic not having penalty points applied to their licence were recorded last year.
More than two-thirds of the cases relate to speeding, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.
There were a total of 29,616 instances in 2009 when penalty points could not be applied because licences of foreign drivers were presented or the vehicle was registered outside the State. Of that figure 20,737 were for speeding offences, equivalent of 70 per cent of such cases.
A request for a breakdown of jurisdictions from which drivers hailed was refused on the basis that the data was not available under the department’s national vehicle and driver file (NVDF).
Labour spokesperson on transport Joe Costello said, while such a breakdown was not available, that it was safe to presume the majority of drivers came from Northern Ireland and the UK and called for a synchronisation of legislation between the jurisdictions.
“It’s a nonsense to have two separate statutory procedures operating – there’s no reason why the two couldn’t be aligned,” he said.
Mr Costello said that fines issued in the Republic could be followed up by the police in other jurisdictions and that summonses could be taken up in the courts of a driver’s home country in the EU.
A Garda spokesman said that, while fixed penalty notices and subsequent summonses, were sent out to drivers from other jurisdictions in the usual manner that “there are no arrangements with police forces from other jurisdictions with regard to passing on fixed charge penalty notices or collection of fines”.
Mr Costello criticised the current system: “The likelihood is that many people will not and that nobody will turn up in court if they don’t have to.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said that, following the introduction of a mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between Ireland and the UK earlier this year, a project plan to pursue the mutual recognition of penalty points is to be developed.
However, she said a “very significant volume of work” needed to be done in order for such mutual recognition to be achieved and that this would be “a complex and long term” process which would likely require primary legislation in both jurisdictions.
“In the interim, the Road Traffic Act 2010, which was signed into law by the President on July 20th, 2010, amends driving licence provisions to ensure that penalty points and disqualifications can be applied to non-national driving licences and to give the Garda powers to seize a licence where the driver has been disqualified,” she said.
Noel Brett of the Road Safety Authority said good progress was being made on the issue. “I feel that this is best addressed on a pan-European basis and am pleased to note that the new EU presidency have included cross-border enforcement as a priority for the presidency.”