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LAST UPDATE | 25 Mar
A LOOPHOLE THAT allowed some people convicted of driving offences to receive 24-hour driving bans instead of penalty points will be closed from next week.
It comes after a court in Naas granted the majority of orders under which drivers got 24-hour bans.
The orders were granted through the legal loophole, where a person admits or is convicted of a driving offence, but can receive a day-long disqualification instead.
The Department of Transport said Minister Darragh O’Brien has signed an amendment to close the loophole, which will come into effect on 31 March.
“It is essential that the consequences associated with reckless and dangerous driving appropriately reflect the seriousness of the issue,” O’Brien said.
The loophole was applied at the District Court level, which mainly deals with less serious cases, over the past two years at a small number of courts. This loophole came via section 2.8 of the Road Traffic Act 2002.
Figures provided by the Courts Service via Freedom of Information legislation showed that there were a total of 18 orders made in 2023 – all of these were granted by Naas District Court.
Naas also accounted for nine of last year’s 15 orders. Of the remainder, three were made by Kilkenny District Court, two by Limerick District Court and one by Dublin District Court.
The figures show that some drivers got more than one 24-hour disqualification rather than receive penalty points. A total of 33 orders were made across the two years, affecting 27 motorists.
The records showed that there was no one-day disqualification imposed for the years 2020, 2021 or 2022.
There has also been no such orders imposed so far this year.
A motorist can be disqualified from driving if they receive 12 penalty points on their licence.
The Department said that 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 there should be no points applied following conviction for a penalty point offence, if the court imposed an ancillary disqualification,” it said.
“The rationale for this was that there was no reason to give people penalty points which could lead to the risk of disqualification, when they were being disqualified anyway.”
The Department said that judges in some recent court cases had imposed “ancillary disqualifications” of less than six months for drivers committing road traffic offences who would otherwise be disqualified for six months.
It said the new Act addresses this “anomaly” and will ensure that drivers will still receive penalty points and any associated disqualification, “even if they are given a short ancillary disqualification”.
“This means that drivers who reach the penalty point threshold for a six-month disqualification will now always face the appropriate penalty,” Darragh O’Brien 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.”
With reporting by Stephen McDermott and Jane Moore
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