The Minister for Transport signed an order on Tuesday closing a legal loophole under which some drivers got disqualification orders for periods as short as one day and avoided penalty points putting them off the road for up to six months.
Minister Darragh O’Brien said he was pleased to sign an order to commence section 4 of the Road Traffic Act 2024 with effect from March 31st next.
The order means drivers who reach the penalty point threshold for a six-month disqualification “will now always face the appropriate penalty”, he said.
“This is a positive step towards ensuring fairness and accountability for all road users. Strengthening these measures is crucial to enhancing road safety and protecting lives.”
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It is “essential that the consequences associated with reckless and dangerous driving appropriately reflect the seriousness of the issue”, the Minister said.
The order closes a loophole in a 2002 Act, highlighted by The Irish Times more than a year ago, where drivers who accumulated penalty points and faced a six-month disqualification could instead receive an “ancillary” disqualification for a shorter time.
Data released last week by the Courts Service disclosed that a total of 33 ancillary orders were granted in 2023 and 2024, of which 27 were granted at Naas District Court. Some drivers got more than one such order.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Department of Transport said the Road Traffic Act 2024 was introduced as a response to the rising trend in road traffic collisions and fatalities in recent years and is being commenced in stages.
The main provisions focus on penalty point reform, mandatory drug testing at the scene of serious collisions, and introducing safer default speed limits, but the legislation also includes several technical amendments to existing legislation, such as the section 4 provision, it said.
Section 4 addresses “an unintended consequence” of the earlier legislation on penalty points and ancillary disqualifications from driving.
Penalty points “are meant to act as a deterrent” from illegal driving behaviours because drivers risk being disqualified for six months if they accumulate enough penalty points.
When penalty points were introduced, it was decided that if the court imposed an ancillary disqualification order, no penalty points should be applied following conviction for a relevant offence. This was because there was no reason to give people penalty points that could lead to the risk of disqualification when they were being disqualified anyway.
In some recent court cases, the statement noted, judges imposed ancillary disqualifications of less than six months on drivers who would otherwise be disqualified for six months if penalty points for those same offences were endorsed on their licences.
The amending provisions mean, in future, penalty points will be endorsed where an ancillary disqualification is made for six months or less.
