Good news for speeders visiting the RoI, not that I'd encourage that type of thing!

[Parisien]

Cross border speeding plan paused

Motorists from one side of the border who commit traffic offences cannot have endorsements enforced in their own area
Plans to introduce a cross border penalty points system between the Republic and Northern Ireland have suffered a set back.

The department of the environment in the North has confirmed that work on the proposals has been paused due to the complexity of the issues involved.

At the moment, motorists from one side of the border who commit traffic offences in the other jurisdiction cannot have those endorsements enforced in their own area.



The governments in Dublin and Belfast wanted to close that loophole.

New laws allowing mutual imposition of penalty points were due to be introduced next year.

That is now unlikely to happen as the department of the environment in Belfast says the project has been paused due to the complexity of the issues involved.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has also conceded that there are legal matters which need to be addressed.

However, he said he remained fully committed to the cross border scheme and was confident it would proceed.



P

 

[nfm]

Frank, great but is it the case that if you commit a licence losing offence in ROI you then lose your NI licence?

 

[Parisien]

Well if they can't add points to your license in NI for an offence committed in RoI, how could they then take your license away........only a judge/court can do that in the issuing jurisdiction surely?



P

 

[nfm]

My (vague) understanding was that whilst you can not transfer points yet an RoI offence that led to an outright ban meant loss of licence in the UK. Did a quick google as follows - not good news as suspected:

The Law
With effect from 28 January 2010 mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland came into force. This was done under the framework of the European Convention on Driving Disqualifications of 17 June 1998 ("the Convention "). The purpose of the Convention is to prevent drivers disqualified from driving in a Member State of the European Union (EU), other than their own, from escaping the consequences when they return home. Although the Convention enters into force only when all signatory Member States have adopted it, it allows Member States to apply its terms early. The Governments of the UK and Ireland have exercised this option, enabling mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between their respective jurisdictions.

The primary legislation to give effect to the Convention in the UK was introduced through the Crime (International Cooperation) Act 2003 (CICA) and Regulations to bring the agreement into law in Great Britain (GB) were laid before the House on 25 November 2008, with similar Regulations being laid in Northern Ireland (NI).

Effects of mutual recognition of driving disqualifications with Ireland
If a driver resident in the UK is disqualified from driving in Ireland, the disqualification will also apply in the UK. The driver will be informed of any remaining period of disqualification due to be served in the UK; the driving licence must be surrendered until the disqualification period has been served in full and it will be an offence to drive in the UK during that period.

Likewise, if a driver resident in Ireland is disqualified in the UK, the disqualification will also be applied in Ireland by the Irish authorities.