Both the Tánaiste, Ms Mary Harney and the Minister for Justice, Mr Michael McDowell, have been criticised by Labour for "passing the buck" onto gardaí for failing to implement the penalty points system.
Earlier today Mr McDowell said that the delays in implementing the computerised penalty points system were outside the personal capacity of himself and the Minister for Transport Mr Seamus Brennan.
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Yesterday the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors said they were unwilling to participate in the full roll-out of the penalty points system for drivers until a computerised network was in place and threatened industrial action against the extension of the system announced today by Mr Brennan.
Labour Party Justice Spokesperson, Mr Joe Costello criticised the "joint efforts of the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice to "pass the buck onto the Gardai for the failure to implement properly the penalty points system designed to record traffic offences."
"To hear Michael McDowell claim that the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors were out of order following their announcement yesterday that the necessary computer system would not be operational, is as blatant an attempt to shift blame as I have ever seen," said Mr Costello.
"Further, in the Dail this morning Mary Harney again criticised the AGSI for their reluctance to extend the penalty points scheme announced today by Transport Minister Seamus Brennan.
"Michael McDowell, not the AGSI, is responsible for ensuring the penalty points system - promised since 1998 - functions properly. Yet, given his failure in recent times to employ the promised 2000 extra Gardai, his failure to act on succesive reports from the Liquor Licensing Commission, and his failure to tackle the crime epidemic, is it any wonder he is looking for others to blame,?" added Mr Costello.
In a separate development the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) welcomed the commitment by Government to provide the necessary financial resources to develop a fully computerised Penalty Points System.
The CPSU represents Clerical Officers working on the System both in Dublin and countrywide who currently record all Penalty Points in manual form in huge ledgers. Each ledger page has to be ruled individually and a clerical officer recently spent four weeks ruling one ledger book.
The CPSU said this was totally unnecessary as civil servants proposed the development of an interim solution on the current computer system, however, this was rejected by Garda management who insisted on the operation of the manual system.