Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 September 2025
164. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport the number of drivers disqualified in court in 2022, 2023 and 2024; the number not sent a notification to inform them of the requirement to surrender their licence/permit to the Road Safety Authority as a match could not be made to link the offence with the driver licence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49861/25]
View answer165. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport the number of drivers who received penalty points in 2022 to 2024 and to date in 2025; the number of drivers who avoided having their penalty points recorded on their licence or permit record on the National Vehicle and Driver File database as the offence could not be successfully matched to the driver involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49862/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 164 and 165 together.
Penalty point and disqualification data are sourced from the Department's National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF) database, which serves as the official record for driving licence, penalty point, and disqualification information.
Each week, An Garda Síochána (AGS) and the Courts Service electronically transmit data to the NVDF. This includes:
• Offences arising from paid Fixed Charge Notices (FCNs) issued by AGS.
• Offences resulting from court proceedings provided by the Courts Service.
The legal framework for penalty points is established under the Road Traffic Act 2002 (Schedule 1).
When a court order cannot be automatically matched to an Irish driver record, the National Driving Licence Service (NDLS), operated by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), conducts a manual search. If no match is found, a ‘shell’ record is created in the NVDF to track the disqualification.
It is important to note that some disqualifications are issued to individuals who do not hold, or have never held, an Irish driving licence, or who hold foreign licences. As a result, not all disqualification orders can be matched to an existing NVDF record and in such cases a licence clearly cannot be surrendered.
Additionally, some disqualifications affecting Irish licence holders remain unmatched due to the individual’s failure to present their licence in court. This issue has been highlighted in the Garda Inspectorate Report and is the subject of ongoing collaboration between the Department of Transport, the Department of Justice, and the Courts Service.
An Garda Síochána have access to the NVDF as part of their Mobility Strategy and therefore can detect and prosecute a matched driver who continues to drive while disqualified. This is the case whether or not a licence has been surrendered.
Table 1 below details the number of drivers disqualified in court in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and the number of these that could not be matched to a driving licence. Unmatched records can include foreign licence holders, unlicensed individuals, and unmatched Irish licence holders. Note that some driver records have had multiple disqualifications; the table below represents the number of drivers disqualified.
Table 1
|
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Driver Disqualified in Court |
7,833 |
8,969 |
7,861 |
|
Number Unmatched to Drivers |
1,859 |
2,113 |
1,904 |
|
% Unmatched |
23.7% |
23.6% |
24.2%
|
Table 2 details the total number of drivers who had penalty point offences recorded on their driving licence in each year from 2022 to 2024 and to 31 August 2025 and the number of these that could not be matched to a driving licence.
Table 2
|
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 (YTD Aug) |
|
Drivers who Received Penalty Points |
181,097 |
170,316 |
166,188 |
117,502 |
|
Number Unmatched to Drivers |
13,184 |
7,971 |
8,152 |
5,487 |
|
% Unmatched |
7.28% |
4.68% |
4.91% |
4.67% |
