As Minister of State with responsibility for International & Road Transport, Logistics, Rail and Ports, I wish to advise that as disqualifications expire after a defined period, the Department does not retain full historical data that would allow us to provide complete figures for the earlier years requested by the Deputy.
At the end of 2025, my Department published a document outlining the process for recording penalty points and disqualifications on driver records within the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF) database. This document is updated annually and will continue to be published on an ongoing basis. The Deputy can currently access the 2024 statistics in the published document, and I expect the updated statistical tables for end-2025 data to be published in the first quarter of this year.
The document is available at the following link:
www.gov.ie/en/department-of-transport/publications/recording-of-penalty-points-and-disqualifications-on-driver-records/
In addition to the data in the report, which addresses the majority of the Deputy's queries, I can inform the Deputy that in 2024, my Department was notified of 10,887 disqualifications from the Courts Service and An Garda Síochána, of which 2,079 (19.10%) related to drivers with more than one disqualification. The 2025 figures will be published in the update of the report.
The statistics include instances where a driver may be served more than one disqualification within a single calendar year. There are various reasons why this may occur. One example is where a driver receives two concurrent disqualifications arising from separate offences recorded by the Courts Service. For instance, a driver prosecuted for both driving without insurance and for Careless Driving under section 52(1) may receive individual disqualifications for each offence.
An Garda Síochána has access to data on the NVDF as part of their Mobility Strategy and can therefore detect and prosecute a driver who continues to drive while disqualified.
