Senator Lorraine Higgins today called on the Minister for Justice to come into the Seanad to discuss why many of the criminals robbing and plundering rural Ireland have not been disqualified from driving.
Senator Higgins said that it is not good enough that “diddly squat is being done to curtail these criminals freedom of movement in more ways than one.”
“It is high time that charges are brought by the DPP in the public interest to disqualify criminals from driving where there is evidence that they have used a mechanically propelled vehicle in the commission of that offence given that s27(1 )(a ) of the 1961 Road Traffic Act allows for disqualification. This has not happened to any of the ringleaders jailed recently for a spate of burglaries, robberies and assaults on people in this country which is an outrage.
“This law is being under utilised by our legal officers and I feel strongly that the DPP throw the book at these thugs and put forward charges of disqualification against every criminal using a car in the commission of their crime, especially given the existence of this provision. If we are serious about combating rural crime it is imperative that we use the legal infrastructure in place to punish those who rob and plunder our rural communities,” she added.
She said that the Government should be looking at amending the existing legislation so we can include a further provision which would mean that any criminal who is a passenger in a car and is intent on being an accessory in a crime well they too should be disqualified from driving.
“Unless we introduce hardline deterrents for all of these criminal gangs we will lose the battle with crime in rural Ireland. Fear pervades around every town in my constituency and while the Gardai are working hard in combatting it but at the end of the day our laws need to be hardline in order deter criminals and cut them off from their market whilst at the same time offering solace to people living in their homes in fear. As rural dwellers, we deserve nothing more but certainly nothing less” Senator Higgins concluded.
Section 27(1 )(a ) of the 1961 Road Traffic Act provides “Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act or otherwise in relation to a mechanically propelled vehicle or the driving of any such vehicle (other than the offence in relation to which s. 26 of this Act applies ) or of a crime or offence in the commission of which a mechanically propelled vehicle was used, the Court may, without prejudice to the infliction of any other punishment authorised by law, make an order (in this Act referred to as an ancillary disqualification order ) declaring the person convicted to be disqualified for holding a driving licence”.
