Road Safety Authority responds to UK driving ban loophole claims

The Belfast Telegraph yesterday reported that defence lawyers in Letterkenny District Court had successfully argued that the procedure used to implement UK driving bans in Ireland was flawed.

In an appeal against a ban, solicitor Frank Dorrian said the RSA brings its applications by way of a clerk-issued summons, which should only be served in criminal cases.

He argued the court clerk was “exercising jurisdiction which cannot apply to this situation”.

Judge John O’Hagan allowed the appeal and overturned the ban, saying that he agreed a summon was not the right vehicle to be used.

The Road Safety Authority has told The Irish Times that its procedures had “already been revised” to take account of the ruling.

Brian Farrell, RSA communications manager, told the newspaper: “We started immediately implementing notifications based on not citing it as a summons and ceasing that terminology and bringing it forward as a notification application.”

However, new UK legislation has meant the UK no longer adheres to an EU Directive on cross-border driver disqualifications.

As a result, no new applications will be brought forward by the RSA until new legislation is introduced and passed in the UK and in Ireland.

Applications made before the UK pulled out of the Directive will still go ahead.