Dirty number plates in line for penalty points

TALKS ARE underway to make dirty or obscured number plates a penalty point offence in advance of the introduction of new privatised speed cameras and number plate reading technology.

The head of the Garda Traffic Corps, Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock, said many registration plates had numbers "so small you can't read them and the automated systems won't read them and we want to have a fixed penalty for that".

The Assistant Commissioner said allocating penalty points to the offence would reduce the amount of time gardaí would have to spend in court.

"We want to try and get [ obscured number plate offences] out of the courts," he said.

Talks on the project have already taken place between the Road Safety Authority and the Revenue Commissioners.

A Revenue spokeswoman said talks on drafting "a composite set of regulations in relation to all number plate offences have been initiated". The fine for having an incorrectly sized or obscured number plate was increased in this year's Finance Act to €5,000, from €1,250. The size, format, colour and dimensions of number plates are regulated by VRT legislation.

Any legislative change to make this a penalty point offence would require legislation to be brought forward from the Department of Transport.

Last week, the Cabinet finally approved funding approval for the procurement of privatised speed cameras, although a row over the cost of the scheme means the cameras will not be in place before October at the earliest.