The Government is facing calls to act following revelations that charitable donations enabled hundreds of drivers to avoid penalty points or a driving ban.
Several speeding drivers avoided a mandatory two-year driving ban when District Court judge Andrew Cody reduced their dangerous driving charges to careless driving after they made donations to charity ranging from several hundred euro to €20,000.
Two of those cases involved drivers separately detected speeding at more than 200km/h on a motorway. One paid a €10,000 donation to charity and the second paid €20,000.
Oireachtas transport committee chairman Michael Murphy (Fine Gael) said the “number one issue” was about consistency in the application of the law.
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“The courts take into account the individual circumstances, but we want to ensure the penalty points system operates fairly and effectively.”
[ Charity donations help speeding motorists driving over 200km/h to avoid driving bans ]
In response to a parliamentary question from the Fine Gael TD, the Courts Service this week provided data showing 480 penalty point road traffic offences were struck out between January 2022 and September 2025, benefiting 459 drivers. Those included speeding and other charges such as having no insurance, taking an illegal turn and holding a mobile phone while driving.
Mr Murphy said he intended to contact Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan about reform of the poor box law, which was pledged about 11 years ago in the wake of a High Court decision that a law making penalty points mandatory superseded the District Court’s common law jurisdiction to allow poor box donations in lieu of convictions.
The aim is to achieve a fairer system allowing for a “more proportionate response” reflecting the scale of seriousness of individual offences, he said.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Matt Carthy said there are clear reasons for judicial discretion when it comes to sentencing, but there must also be public confidence in law enforcement.
“I would be very concerned that someone could drive in excess of 200km/h and not be banned. If laws as enacted by the Oireachtas are not being enforced on an equal basis, that has to raise concerns,” he said.
As chairman of the Oireachtas justice committee, Mr Carthy said he intended to pursue the matter with the departments of Justice and Transport and with other committees “to see how we can advance change”.
Prof Tom O’Malley, a sentencing law expert, said he “disparages” decisions enabling some speeding drivers to avoid a mandatory two-year driving ban by making donations to charity.
Such decisions were “entirely inappropriate” given the “clear” wording of the relevant provisions of the Road Traffic Act and ran “counter to the whole idea of impartial justice for everyone”, he said.
Prof O’Malley said the law relating to dangerous and careless driving is “clear”.
In deciding whether to reduce a dangerous driving charge to one of careless driving, a judge has to adjudicate on the facts, said Mr O’Malley. A charitable donation offer is not relevant to the consideration, he said.
If a judge believes dangerous driving has been made out on the evidence, a conviction on that charge should follow, he said.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has been contacted for comment.
A representative for the Department of Justice said that the judiciary are “subject only to the Constitution and the law, and are independent in the exercise of their judicial functions”.
In response to a question regarding plans the Minister had to advance the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill, they replied: “A policy review of the Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill 2014 has been conducted which recommends changes that reflect developments in Irish penal policy since 2014. The Department is considering the policy review and next steps.”
