A bug in the Garda computer system, which went undetected for several months earlier this year, has allowed about 2,500 motorists to escape penalty points and fines for speeding offences.
The computer bug prevented the issuing of the required notices asking the owners of vehicles identified by speed cameras who was actually driving at the time. The problem emerged last November, but by the time it was identified in April, many cases had to be dropped as they were statute-barred.
The head of the Garda Traffic Bureau, Chief Supt John Farrelly, told The Irish Times that about 2,500 cases were affected.
Details of the computer problems emerged at a meeting of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee yesterday which was dealing with a critical report by the Comptroller and Auditor General into the operation of the penalty points system.
A report for the committee drawn up by the secretary general of the Department of Justice, Mr Seán Aylward, indicated that despite technical work carried out in recent months, about 43 per cent of images taken by static speed cameras and videos this year were "spoiled" and could not be used.
The report said more than 7,650 people had escaped penalty points and fines in the first nine months of the year as a result of their cases becoming statute-barred for various reasons.
Under legislation, where the initial fine issued on foot of penalty points is not paid, an application for a court summons must be made within six months. If this deadline is not met, the prosecution of the driver becomes statute-barred.
Mr Aylward's report said the number of cases becoming statute-barred and which could not be prosecuted was worse in the nine months to last September than in the previous 14-month period examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Mr Aylward said the increase was due to the bug in the computer system and delays caused by problems relating to proving that motorists had received penalty point notices.
The comptroller in his report had criticised the fact that only 18 per cent of drivers who failed to pay fines actually received court summonses.
The chairman of the committee, Mr Michael Noonan, said when cases dropped on the instruction of the DPP were taken into account, only one person in six who did not pay the fine was actually taken to court. "Wouldn't you be a desperate fool to pay the fine up front?" he said.
Mr Aylward said factors such as drivers with foreign licences and those driving company cars militated against the issuing of summonses in certain cases, but the inability to take action against drivers with foreign licences and foreign addresses was being pursued by the British-Irish Council and at EU level.
The problem with regard to company cars could be dealt with by new legislation "in the context of the treatment of company vehicles and benefit in kind", he said.
