PART 4 PENALTY POINTS

Section 44 provides for the amendment of sections 1 and 2 of the Road Traffic Act 2002 to facilitate the endorsement of penalty points where a licence record does not exist and for foreign driving licence holders. The section also provides at subsection (3) for the transfer of any penalty points accumulated from such a record to a pre-existing record, at the discretion of the Minister.

Section 45 updates the references in the First Schedule to the Act of 2002 to reflect the current legislative basis for the offences listed therein.

Section 46 provides that the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 does not apply to penalty point offences.

PART 5 DRIVING LICENCE

Section 47 amends section 3(1) of the Principal Act by providing for a new definition of a driving licence to include ‘foreign driving licences’ which will bring such licence holders into the scope of the application of sanctions for road traffic offences, including a disqualification for holding a driving licence.

Section 48 substitutes section 21 to 23 of the Principal Act to reflect the changes to the definition of a driving licence and repeals sections 24 and 25 of that Act. The section also provides that in applications for a driving licence or learner permit (which includes renewals), the applicant must provide their Personal Public Service Number (PPSN).

Section 49 substitutes section 39 of the Principal Act to provide for the offence of applying for a driving licence or learner permit while disqualified for holding a licence.

Section 50 provides powers to the Garda Síochána to seize and make a copy of a driving licence or permit where the person has been disqualified for holding a driving licence, including a foreign driving licence holder, or where the licence has been fraudulently obtained or is forged or altered. It also prohibits the person from whom the licence has been seized from driving a mechanically propelled vehicle. Subsection (6) provides for the detention of a driving licence for the purposes of translation into Irish or English and having the validity of the licence confirmed.

Section 51 amends section 22 of the Act of 2002 to require a person on the first day of appearance before the Court to produce both their licence and a copy of their licence to the Court and empowers the Court to demand the production of both the licence and the copy and retain the copy of the licence for the purposes of establishing and recording the licence details.

PART 6 DISQUALIFICATIONS

Section 52 amends section 30 of the Principal Act to provide that a person who is in receipt of a consequential, ancillary or special disqualification order stands disqualified for holding a driving licence, whether the person holds an Irish driving licence or a foreign driving licence. Subsection (2) amends section 3 of the Act of 2002 to provide for a disqualification of a person, on accumulating 12 penalty points, whether the person holds an Irish driving licence or a foreign driving licence.

Section 53 repeals sections 26 and 49(1)(1) of the Act of 1994, the Road Traffic Act 1995 and section 6 of the Act of 2006, and restates the provisions of section 26 (Consequential Disqualification Orders), in order to reflect the intoxicated driving provisions of this Bill and to provide the range of penalties associated with reduced Blood Alcohol Concentration levels (and associated levels in breath and urine) provided for in Sections 4 and 5. The section also provides for the substitution of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act, which sets out the offences under the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2009 involving Consequential Disqualification Orders.

Section 54 provides that where a person who has been subject to an ancillary or a consequential disqualification order applies to the Court for the restoration of their licence under section 29 of the Principal Act, a minimum disqualification period of two years must be served by that person before their licence can be restored.

Section 55 provides for technical amendments to Section 9 of the Act of 2002 to facilitate the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications for specified offences by providing for notification to the relevant authority in another EU Member State of the disqualification in Ireland of a person normally resident in that State.