Senior gardaí are welcoming new measures to ensure the penalty points system is protected from abuse.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald yesterday announced a judge was being appointed as an independent authority to oversee the scheme.

It coincided with a report showing that one in six cases where penalty points were cancelled warrant further investigation.

Tim Galvin is the President of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors. He says the new step is a positive development:

The Justice Minister yesterday published the report of the Garda Professional Standards Unit, which examined a sample of 667 files where points were cancelled.

Of these, 114 were singled out for further investigation, and only seven of these refer to the period after June, when new rules were introduced to tighten the system.

It has also recommended that people should not be able to apply for an NCT without having paid the fines for any fixed-charge notices.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has appointed Judge Matthew Deery to become a new independent authority with responsibility for overseeing the system.

Ms Fitzgerald says that abuse of the system has drastically reduced since the last reforms were introduced in June.

“There’s only seven cases from that period that require further investigation as to why the decision was taken,” she said.

The Garda Commissioner says the penalty points system is much stronger since the new measures were brought in. Since then, just three senior gardai are allowed to make a decision to cancel penalty points.

Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan says this shows that the reforms are working. She spoke to the press following the publication of the report: