Points fiasco may see drivers sue the State
These include people receiving a conviction; and the imposition of higher penalty points; to those receiving higher insurance premiums as a result and, worst of all, people who failed to secure a job, or even lost their job, because of the conviction.
Solicitor Evan O’Dwyer said these drivers will now have a case for damages against the State.
And he said this will cause ongoing problems as drivers could now argue that a fundamental provision of the road traffic laws — that people are presumed to have received Fixed Charge Notices in the post — has now been “debunked” because of the admitted garda failure.
Mr O’Dwyer said that “theoretically the entire system potentially could ground to a halt”.
The Garda’s top traffic officer, Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn, said the failure has been addressed with a new IT update to the Pulse system.
AC Finn revealed at a press conference that a total of 147,000 people had been summonsed to court in situations where the driver had either already paid the FCN or had not been sent the FCN, depriving them the opportunity of paying the fine.
Speaking on Today With Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1, Mr O’Dwyer pointed out that a driver is obliged to tell their insurance company if they have a road conviction and had penalty points.
“That will increase your insurance premium. People may also have been applying for jobs, they may have required garda vetting, a conviction was there that shouldn’t have been there — it’s immeasurable the damage for certain people, not for everybody. It’s not mickey-mouse stuff: this is people’s lives.”
Mr O’Dwyer said people will be able to quantify the increase in premiums and would have a cause of action against the commissioner. Those who lost their jobs or failed to get one would have a “large cause against the commissioner”, but pointed out that the onus would be on them to show that the decision was “solely attributable to this conviction”.
He added: “This is going to be a mess.”
Ann Fogarty of PARC road safety group said they have concerns in relation to the second scandal: that almost half of the two million recorded breath tests never happened.
“The explanation the Garda Síochána gave yesterday is not at all sufficient,” said Ms Fogarty. “How did this discrepancy come about, was it deliberate, what was behind it, who is responsible, who was overseeing it, will anyone be held accountable?
“We need detailed explanations on this from the commissioner.”
