Driving offences

Information

Each year in Ireland, thousands of people are issued with licences to drive motor vehicles. These vehicles include motorcycles, cars, vans, trucks, agricultural machinery, etc. In order to ensure high standards of road safety, it's important that everyone is aware of the laws in place regarding motoring in Ireland and the penalties in place if you break the law.

The Road Traffic Acts set out the main provisions for motoring in Ireland. This legislation deals with issues such as vehicle licensing, vehicle standards, your obligations and responsibilities, etc. Motoring offences can include drink driving, speeding, driving without evidence of insurance or motor tax, driving without due care and attention and driving without a seatbelt. A new offence of driving while holding a mobile telephone was introduced on 16 July 2006.

You can be disqualified from driving a vehicle if a judge convicts you of a motoring offence or of driving a defective vehicle. Driving a defective vehicle can include driving a vehicle that is not road-worthy. A system of parking restrictions and fines is also in place throughout Ireland.

Summonses issued to citizens for motoring offences are heard in the District Court and the presiding judge has the power to impose disqualifications for driving and endorsements of driving licenses. Motoring offences that result in a charge of dangerous driving causing death are heard in the Circuit Court before a judge and jury unless the defendant pleads guilty prior to the hearing.

The Gardai have the power to arrest the driver of a vehicle for ceratin motoring offences.  These offences include drink driving an ddangerous driving.

Rules

Penalties

Penalties on conviction for motoring offences depend on the severity of the offences and on whether or not they are repeated offences. Penalties can include monetary fines, endorsement of driving license, disqualification from driving for life, and in the most serious cases, imprisonment. In addition a penalty points system is in place for ceratin motoring offences.  A list of motoring offences that attract penalty points is here.

The Road Traffic Act, 2006 has increased the maximum monetary penalties (fines) which a court can impose in relation to most common motoring offences. These increases came into effect on 5 March 2007. 

Penalties on conviction for dangerous driving causing death are the same as penalties for manslaughter and also carry a mandatory disqualification from driving for a minimum of five years. Since 5 March 2007 all convictions for drink driving offences carry a mandatory disqualification for a minimum of one year. Gardai also have the power to impound vehicles which are not insured or in certain circumstances vehicles which are not taxed or vehicles which do not have a certificate of roadworthiness.

Disqualification from driving

Disqualification orders are usually made by a court preventing a person from validly holding a drivers licence or from applying for one for a defined or stated period of time. A disqualification can however also arise from the penalty points system. This disqualification period is for six months and is administered by the Department of Transport.

There are five different types of disqualifications from driving:

• Consequential Disqualification: Where a court is obliged to make an order disqualifying a person who is convicted of certain offences. The Road Traffic Act 2006 has greatly increased the minimum periods established for consequential disqualification orders and has added two new offences to those offences that attach a consequential disqualification. These are driving an M.P.V. without a driving licence while disqualified and using a vehicle without a certificate of roadworthiness. Consequential disqualifications are the most common type of disqualification handed down by the courts. (A list of the changes in the period of disqualifications and the offences to which they apply can be found at the end of this document).
• Ancillary Disqualification: These disqualification orders are an optional addition to any other legal penalty imposed by a court. So, a judge may impose an ancillary disqualification depending on the circumstances of the case. Examples of this would be where a vehicle was used in a bank raid and the judge imposed an ancillary disqualification on all the occupants of the car and not just the driver.
• Special Disqualification: Unlike the first two types of disqualification orders (which require someone to have been convicted of an offence before they can be imposed), special disqualification orders do not require someone to be convicted in order to impose the disqualification. If the Gardai or the Motor Tax Office have reasonable grounds for believing that a licence holder is either:

1. Unfit to drive by reason of a physical disease; or 
2. Unfit to drive because of a physical or mental disability; or 
3. Incompetent to drive any vehicle or any class of vehicle;

They can apply to the District Court for a special disqualification order.

• EU Disqualification: Transfers an order made in one EU state to another where the disqualified person resides. Although the 1998 EU Convention on Driving Disqualifications (98/C 216/01) which allows for such transfer of disqualification orders is not yet in force, it is hoped that this will become law soon. The Convention relates to disqualification for offences that involve:
  - reckless or dangerous driving of a motor vehicle
  - hit-and-run driving
  - driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or other substances affecting or diminishing the driver's mental and physical abilities
  - driving a vehicle faster than the permitted speed 
  In advance of the Convention coming into force, the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between Ireland and the UK (including Norther Ireland) came into operation from 28 January 2010.
• Penalty Points Disqualification: This disqualification order is not issued by the courts but by the Department of Transport. When a person accumulates a total of 12 points or more on their licence, then the Department of Transport will notify them that from a certain date they will be disqualified from driving for a period of six months. The person will then be required to hand in their driving licence to the licensing authority which granted it.

Any disqualification order issued by the courts can be appealed within 14 days from the date of conviction. If the judge orders you to be disqualified from driving and you do not appeal the conviction, you will receive a Notice from the Fines Office of the District Court where you appeared, stating that you must hand in your driving licence immediately.

The Fines Office of the District Court will require you to submit any driving licence you hold, together with the details of the Court Order. Disqualification from driving automatically carries a mandatory 3-year endorsement of your driving licence. The period of endorsement commences when the disqualification period ends. Your licence will then be sent to your local Motor Tax Office where it will be held for collection until the period of disqualification is over.

Endorsement

An endorsement is basically a record that gives details of your motoring convictions. Prior to 2002 (and the introduction of the Road Traffic Act 2002) an endorsement was a stamp which was placed on your driving licence showing the details of your conviction on the licence. The 2002 Act amended the system of endorsement by recording the details of your conviction on your licence record which is held by the Motor Tax Office. So if you receive an endorsement on your driving licence from the courts you do not have to hand up your licence to be endorsed as your conviction will be notified by the courts to the Licensing Authority who will endorse your licence record.

The penalty points system of endorsement is also by entry in the licence record.  Endorsements remain on your licence record for 3 years and must be notified to your insurance company when applying for motor insurance. Endorsements on your licence record will often lead to an increase in your motor insurance premium. Second or subsequent endorsements often result in disqualification from driving.

Fixed charge offenses

A system of fixed charge driving offences operates in Ireland which allows the driver of a vehicle who has been detected of committing certain offences under the Road Traffic Acts to pay a fixed charge or fine as an alternative to going to court to answer the driving offence. Among the offences covered are illegal parking, seat belt offences, speeding offences, driving in a bus-lane and holding a mobile phone while driving.

The Minister for Transport has the power to declare any summary (or minor) offence under the Road Traffic Act 1961-2006 to be fixed charge offences. A person has 28 days from the date of the issue of the fixed charge notice to pay the fine. If it is not paid within 28 days, the charge is increased by 50% and if it is still unpaid after a further 28 days then court proceedings are initiated.

If you receive a fixed charge notice for a driving offence and you were not the driver of the vehicle you must return the notice to the Gardai and include the details of the person who was driving (including his/her driving licence number) in the form attached to the fixed charge notice for that purpose. The Gardai will then issue a fixed charge notice to the driver of the vehicle. The registered owner of the vehicle is the person to whom the fixed charge notice will be sent if the driver of the vehicle was not identified at the time the offence was detected, (e.g. detected by a speed camera or if a car was parked illegally). If the registered owner was not the driver he/she is still obliged by law to notify the Gardai of who the driver of the vehicle was at the time of the offence.

If you misplace, lose or damage your fixed charge notice, you should contact the Fixed Charge Processing Office at:

• Locall 1890 30 40 60
• Email npo@garda.ie

 A re-print of the notice will be sent to you by post. However, the time period allowed for payment is not extended by your request for a re-print.

If the fixed charge notice is paid within the legal time limits and court proceedings are not commenced you will not have a criminal record in respect of the offence. 

Further information on fixed charge notices is available on the Garda website 

Motor tax and insurance

Motorists in Ireland are obliged to display evidence that they have paid their motor tax and have current motor insurance on the windscreen of their vehicles. If a vehicle is found by the Gardai not to have a current motor insurance policy they have the power to impound the vehicle until such time as an insurance certificate is produced by the owner which insures the use of the vehicle. The owner of the vehicle will be liable to all charges or costs incurred by the Gardai in the removal and storage of the vehicle. The Road Traffic Act 2006 extended this power to include the power to impound vehicles registered outside of Ireland.

Similarly, the Gardai are empowered to impound any vehicle which has not been taxed for a period of two months or more. In reality this means that if you are stopped by the Gardai while driving a vehicle and the road tax for that vehicle is out of date by two months or more, the Gardai can seize that vehicle and impound it until such time as the owner can show proof that the motor tax has been paid for that vehicle to include the date on which it was impounded (i.e. paying the arrears due on the vehicle). Again, the owner of the vehicle will be liable for all charges and costs incurred by the Gardai in the removal and storage of the vehicle.

Mobile telephones and driving

The Road Traffic Act 2006 has created a new offence of holding a mobile phone while driving a vehicle in a public place. The law was introduced to eliminate the common practice of drivers using mobile phones while driving and thereby not concentrating fully on their driving. The offence is holding a mobile phone and does not require the driver to be making or receiving a call but merely holding the phone.

A number of people are exempt from the offence.  For example, members of the Gardai, the ambulance service or the fire brigade service if they are acting in the course of their duty and holding the mobile phone in relation to the performance of their duty. Hold in relation to a mobile phone, means holding the phone by hand or supporting it or cradling it with another part of the body. Hands-free phone kits or Bluetooth technology is not now illegal and is outside the definition of mobile-phone.

It will be a defence for anyone charged with the offence of holding a mobile phone while driving to show that they were:

• Using it to call the Gardai, an ambulance, fire brigade or other emergency service
• Involved in or acting in response to a genuine emergency

Since 1 September 2006 the offence is a fixed charge offence of €60 and will attach two penalty points to your licence. A conviction in court will cost you up to €2,000 and four penalty points on your licence.

Driving offences committed in other jurisdictions

Penalty points and endorsements on driving licences acquired in other countries (including EU/EEA member states) are not recognised between states. Although a European Convention on driving disqualifications was signed by the member states in June of 1998 which allowed making certain disqualification effective throughout the EU, the conviction has not yet come into force.

In practice therefore, this means if you acquired penalty points or have endorsements on your driving licence before coming to Ireland, these penalty points or endorsements will not transfer over to an Irish driving licence. If however, you have been disqualified from driving in another country and this was in addition to a prison sentence for driving offences it may not be possible for you to exchange your full foreign driving licence for a full driving licence here in Ireland.

If you are driving on a foreign driving licence in Ireland and acquire penalty points here, you will receive the normal statutory fine but the penalty points will not be added to your foreign driving licence. If you subsequently exchange your foreign driving licence for an Irish driving licence, your Irish penalty points will then be activated on your new Irish driving licence.

Rates

Appeals to the Circuit Court to reverse a conviction leading to disqualification from driving are free of charge.

Appeals to the District Court for the early restoration of your driving license if you are disqualified cost €20.

All fines and fees collected by the Gardai or authorised persons are paid to the state unless otherwise stated in the law.

How to apply

If you have been convicted of motoring offences and disqualified from driving in a District Court, you can appeal the disqualification to the Circuit Court. You must lodge an appeal within 14 days of your conviction. If you wish to represent yourself, the court clerk in your local District Court will help you complete the necessary forms. Alternatively, your solicitor can assist you.

If you have been disqualified from driving and wish to apply to the courts for an early restoration of your licence, you may do so in person or through a solicitor following payment of the appropriate fee. You may apply for the early restoration of your driving licence when half your disqualification period is over, but you cannot appeal convictions involving a disqualification of two years or less.

The court clerk of your District and Circuit Court will tell you about the court venues and dates.

Where to apply

Contact information for your local District Court and contact information for your local Circuit Court is located at the front of all public telephone directories.