Minister for Transport Martin Cullen is to put in place measures to clarify "a grey area" whereby gardaí are not informed when a driver accumulates 12 penalty points.
This follows a claim by Fine Gael's transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell that some motorists with 12 points continue to drive due to legal loopholes and confusion among gardaí and officials.
When a driver accumulates 12 penalty points, the Department of the Environment's office in Shannon informs the driver's local authority, which in turn sends a letter to the individual, requiring him to surrender his licence within 28 days. However, gardaí are not formally notified when drivers reach 12 points.
A spokesman said Mr Cullen yesterday asked his officials to "copperfasten this grey area. The Minister has taken the view that the gardaí should simultaneously be informed".
Mr Cullen believes this problem can be corrected without the need for legislation. If not, however, the change will be incorporated into the Road Safety Bill which the Government hopes to introduce in the coming weeks.
The spokesman added that no evidence had been supplied to support the claim that drivers with 12 penalty points continued to drive. "To date 52 people have reached 12 penalty points, and all 52 have been notified . . . A lot of what is being said appears to be hearsay."
Olivia Mitchell had earlier said that "a staggering number" of loopholes in the penalty points system allowed drivers with 12 points to continue driving. Legal and administrative ambiguities meant that drivers who fail to hand over their licences have apparently "clean" documents when stopped by a garda, she said, while many gardaí are themselves confused by the system.
Meanwhile, a 26-year-old man killed in a two-vehicle collision at the weekend died just hours after attending his uncle's removal. Brian Carroll from Ballyagran in Co Limerick was killed on Sunday morning when the car in which he was a rear-seat passenger collided with a mini-bus. The crash happened at about 3.30am outside Newcastlewest.
In Co Donegal, 16 people were arrested for drunk driving over the weekend as gardaí intensified their efforts in the wake of last week's two-car crash in Buncrana which killed five people.