The Government has no plans to issue guidelines on speeding to Ministers and their drivers, it emerged yesterday.
The issue arose after the driver of the Minister of State, Mr Noel Treacy, was convicted for driving at 95 m.p.h. in a 60 m.p.h. speed zone. This was the third reported speeding incident involving Ministers' drivers in recent years.
When a Government spokeswoman was asked if the Taoiseach would be issuing guidelines to Ministers on speeding, she said: "The most important guideline is the law. The Government hopes that Ministers and junior Ministers would abide by that. It's not a case of issuing some new direction."
The Taoiseach had already made it clear that he did not condone speeding and wanted people to abide by the law, the spokeswoman said.
The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, who has highlighted road safety issues, has no plans to introduce guidelines.
A source said the Minister did not see the need to issue separate advice to Cabinet colleagues or their drivers as "the law is the law and must be obeyed by all".
Yesterday it emerged that the National Safety Council had written to the Garda Commissioner and the Taoiseach warning them about the dangers of speeding ministerial cars.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Eddie Shaw, chairman of the National Safety Council, said he had grown concerned about the speeding of ministerial drivers, after reading a report in The Irish Times about the speed of the Taoiseach's cavalcade during the election campaign.
There was no such thing as a safe speed, he said. While some people had certain exemptions from the law, "nobody has an exemption from the laws of physics. Nobody has an exemption from a duty of care."
He said a mistake had been made in Mr Treacy's case. "But it's an important mistake to acknowledge, and I think the best thing to do at a time like that is to simply come out and acknowledge it."
He said there was no such thing as travelling safely at 95 m.p.h. "no matter what the condition of the road is.
"No matter what the car is, it is an illusion. The laws of physics alone will determine that."
Meanwhile, it has emerged that more than 2,000 people have received penalty points since their introduction in October last year.
If drivers receive 12 points within three years, they lose their licence for six months.