More than 191,000 penalty point notices were issued to drivers last year.

That is an increase of over 14,000 on the year before.

The figures have been released by the Department of Transport under the Freedom of Information Act.

191,104 penalty point notices were issued to drivers in 2019 - up 8% on the year before.

Some 64% of them related to speeding.

The number of drivers disqualified from driving in 2018 and 2019 | Source: Department of Transport

The number of notices issued for this offence rose by 10%, to nearly 123,000.

More than 27,000 notices were issued for holding a mobile phone while driving - up 3% on 2018.

There is also an increasing number of people being punished for driving without an NCT certificate.

More than 6,500 notices were issued for this offence last year - a rise of 15%.

Brian Farrell is from the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

"It's disappointing to see that there's so many drivers out there breaking our road safety laws that are there to save lives and prevent injuries".

"But I suppose if there's something to take out of these figures, it shows that the Gardaí are out there in force".

Another common offence is driving with no insurance - more than 4,300 notices were issued for that last year.

In total, just over 11,500 people were disqualified from driving last year, which is almost exactly the same as 2018.