Penalty points for driving offences

Ireland uses penalty points to enforce road rules and improve road safety. If you commit a motoring offence, and the penalty includes penalty points, your driving licence will be endorsed with one or more penalty points.

Some traffic offences have other penalties, such as fines and imprisonment.

While penalty points are endorsed on your driving licence, the points do not physically appear on the licence. Your penalty points are recorded on your driving licence record, which is held on the National Vehicle and Driver File operated by the Department of Transport.

Penalty points endorsements remain on your licence record for 3 years, and you must notify your insurance company when applying for motor insurance. Motor insurance companies have had access to the National Vehicle and Driver File.

Endorsements on your licence record will often lead to an increase in your motor insurance premium.

Legislation

The penalty points system for driving offences has operated in Ireland since 2002. The law governing penalty points is the Road Traffic Act 2002 (as amended), which has been amended several times to add offences for which penalty points can be issued.

Closing the loophole on short driving bans and penalty points

From 31 March 2025, an amendment to the Road Traffic Act 2002 ensures that drivers who receive a short ancillary disqualification (a temporary driving ban) will still have penalty points added to their record. This closes a loophole where some drivers avoided the automatic 6-month disqualification by receiving a shorter ban. Now, penalty points will always be applied.

Penalty points are recorded on your driving licence when:

• You are convicted in court of a driving offence that attracts penalty points or
• You pay a fixed charge notice that was issued to you for an offence that also carries penalty points

If you get 12 penalty points in any 3 years, you are automatically disqualified from driving for 6 months.

Learner permit drivers are disqualified if they have 7 penalty points. This lower threshold also applies for the first 2 years of a driver’s first full driving licence.

Penalty points are not added to your licence immediately.

Fixed charge and penalty offences

Fixed notice penalties are issued for driving offences that attract penalty points or just a fine.

If you are said to have committed a fixed notice penalty, you will be issued a notice by An Garda Siochána. You will have 28 days to pay the fixed charge fine. If you do not pay within this period, you have a further 28 days to pay the fine with an additional 50% increase in the penalty amount. This means you have to a total of 56 days to pay before court proceeding are initiated. If you pay the fixed charge fine within this 56-day period, you will get a further notice confirming that the penalty points will be added to your driving licence. The penalty points will be added to your licence 28 days after this notification.

If you do not pay the fixed charge fine within 56 days, you will get a summons to appear in the District Court. A final payment option allows you to pay the fine up to 7 days before the court date. This fine will be double the original amount, and penalty points will be applied. Details of this option will be included with the court summons.

If you are convicted of a driving offence in court, the court will issue the number of penalty points attached to that conviction. You will be notified that these penalty points will be added to your driving licence 28 days after the notification date.

You can get information on fixed charge notices and fines in our page about driving offences.

Penalty points remain on your licence record for 3 years. Any period where your licence is out of date or you are serving a court disqualification does not count as part of the 3 years. If your driving licence is out of date, the points will only apply from whenever you renew your licence.

If you accumulate 12 points or 7 where applicable and are disqualified from driving for 6 months.

If you have been disqualified from driving because you have reached 12 penalty points or 7 penalty points where applicable, you must surrender your driving licence within 14 days of disqualification commencing to the National Driver Licence Service for the period of 6 months. It is an offence not to surrender a licence. It is also an offence to drive while disqualified.

The Road Traffic Act 2002, (as amended) legislates for motoring offences that incur penalty points. The Road Safety Authority maintains an up-to-date list of penalty point motoring offences.

Examples of how penalty points and fines are awarded.

Speeding offences: A fixed charge fine of €160 and 3 penalty points. If you have been caught speeding on a speed camera, you will get a notice of your fine and penalty points for the offence by post. You have 28 days to pay your fine from the date the notice is issued to you. If you do not pay your fine, the fine then increases to €240, which you must pay within 28 days. If after this time (56 days) you still have not paid your fine, the offence is referred to the courts. However, if you have been summoned to court due to non-payment of the fixed charge notice, you have the option to accept the penalty points and pay double the original 28-day fine, €320, up to 7 days before the court date. If you do not do this and are convicted in court of speeding offences and non-payment of fines, you will automatically receive 5 penalty points and a fine up to a maximum of €1,000.

Seatbelt offences: If you drive without a seatbelt or allow children under 17 years to travel in your car without a seatbelt, you will incur a fixed charge fine of €120. You must pay this fine within 28 days or face an increased fine of €180 payable within 56 days of the offence. 3 penalty points will be added to your licence if you pay the fine on time. However, if you have been summoned to court due to non-payment of the fixed charge notice, you have the option to accept the penalty points and pay double the original 28-day fine, €240, up to 7 days before the court date. If you are convicted in court for non-wearing of a seatbelt, 5 penalty points will be added to your licence, and you will be liable to a €2,500 fine for a first offence. Read more about seatbelts and the law in Ireland.

Motor insurance offences: If you drive without insurance, you will get 5 penalty points and you must appear in court. The court can issue a fine of up to €5,000 and can send you to prison for up to 6 months. The court can also disqualify you from driving.

Careless driving: If you drive ‘a vehicle in a public place without due care and attention' you can get up to 5 penalty points on your licence and a fine of up to €5,000. If careless driving causes death or serious bodily harm, you are liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term of up to 2 years or to a fine of up to €10,000 or to both.

What would happen if someone else was driving my vehicle?

If the driving offence was detected by camera, the notice is sent to the registered owner of the vehicle. If the registered owner was not driving at the time of the offence, they should fill out the Statement of Nomination of Name and Address of Driver of Vehicle section giving details of the person who was driving. This should then be returned to the Fixed Charge Processing Office with the original notice. You must do this within 28 days of the date of the notice. Do not enclose payment. The Gardaí then issue a notice to the driver.

Do penalty points apply to all Irish driving licences?

Yes. Penalty points apply to both learner permits and full Irish driving licences. Penalty points also apply to drivers with foreign driving licences driving in Ireland. If someone is driving in Ireland on a foreign licence, a record will be created for penalty points. If the driver accumulates 12 penalty points in 3 years, they are disqualified from driving in Ireland.

How do you find out how many penalty points you have on your driving licence?

To find out how many penalty points you have on your driving licence record, complete a the Driver’s Statement Form. Fill in the details as it appears on your licence. You select the option to receive it by email or post. There is no charge.

Penalty points from other jurisdictions

Penalty points from other countries (including EU/EEA member states and the United Kingdom) are not recognised between states. Although a European Convention on driving disqualifications was signed by the member states in June 1998, it is not currently in force. However, the UK and Ireland have a separate agreement that allows each country to recognise disqualifications (but not penalty points) due to certain offences.

Can penalty points be cancelled?

If you have been issued with penalty points (or a fixed charge without penalty points), you can apply to the Gardaí for the points to be cancelled. You will have to show that there are good procedural or exceptional grounds for cancellation.

Procedural grounds - examples of this include:

• A technical problem meant that wrong information was recorded (for example, the wrong speed limit was detected)
• You are exempt from the offence, for example, you have an exemption from wearing a seatbelt. See our page on seatbelts)
• You have been penalised for not having tax or insurance, but you can show that you had motor tax or insurance at the time of the alleged offence
• The car had been stolen and you have been sent a fixed charge notice and/or penalty points for offences committed after the theft of the vehicle
• You no longer owned the vehicle

Exceptional grounds – examples of this include

• You broke the speed limit because you were bringing someone to the hospital due to a medical emergency where it is believed the life of the person is at risk
• You broke the speed limit because you were a technician responding to an emergency (for example, a fire or gas leak)

You can get the Fixed Charge Notice Cancellation Request Form and guidance notes on filling out the form on garda.ie.

You can get more information on penalty points from the Road Safety Authority.

Alternatively you can contact the NDLS (National Driver Licence Service).