by Jessie Magee
NEW regulations on cross-border traffic offences
agreed at the European Parliament this week will be
implemented by the Government here, according to a
North West MEP.
Ireland is one of three countries, along with the UK
and Denmark, to have opted out of the legislation
until now. Other member states have been given two
years to apply the new rules, which will mean that
drivers who commit road offences abroad will no
longer be able to evade prosecution when they return
to their home country.
Speaking from Strasbourg, Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins
said he was very confident that the Transport
Minister would sign up to the directive, hopefully
before the Dáil breaks for the summer. He also
explained that the reason Ireland is not on board
yet is because the government was in flux when the
decision was being taken in March of this year.
“Ireland was not present at the Council table on 2nd
March because we were in political limbo, the
previous government had been defeated even though
they were still theoretically in power. I have
contacted Transport Minister Leo Varadkar and I’m
confident that the government will give it
priority,” he said.
Under the new laws, EU states will swap car
registration details to track down and penalise
motorists who drink drive run red lights, don’t wear
their seatbelts, or break the speed limit. Any fines
or penalties will be based on the law of the state
where the offence took place.
Mr Higgins said the law would help gardaí and the
PSNI in border counties to crackdown on drivers from
the North who “use the roads and motorways of the
Republic as their playground”. |
