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Penalty Points Information

For more information log onto www.penaltypoints.ie

Motor Tax offices do not deal directly with the penalty point system.

When a person commits an offence that attracts penalty points a notice will issue from the RSA. The points only apply on the licence record 28 days after the date of issue of the notice. The date of the offence, the issue of the Garda Fixed charge notice, the payment of the charge or the court date have no bearing on when the penalty points are applied to a licence record.

Note if a licence record is not current the penalty points will only apply whenever the licence is renewed. Points remain on a current licence record for a period of 3 years from the start date. The driver has the option to renew the licence during the 6-month disqualification period as the disqualification period can only run on a valid licence record. E.g. licence expires 2 months into the 6 month disqualification period & driver doesn’t renew for a year then the remaining 4 month period of disqualification does not continue to count down until the licence is renewed again.

Maximum Number of Penalty Points

On reaching/exceeding the maximum number of penalty points the following procedure will apply the VRU will notify the driver of his/her pending disqualification and notice will also be sent to the relevant Local Authority for information purposes only

• The notification will be sent to the driver 28 days in advance of the commencement of the disqualification
• The driver has 14 days from the date of commencement of the disqualification to surrender his/her licence to the motor tax office.
• The Onus is on the driver to contact the Motor Tax office once the disqualification has expired to retrieve their licence.
• After 42 days from the notification date VRU will contact the Gardaí if the driving licence hasn’t been surrendered

All queries regarding actual offences should be referred to the relevant Garda Station.