'Flouting the law': Just 8% of drivers disqualified in Cork hand over licence

Just 8% of Cork drivers who were disqualified from driving in the first seven months of this year have handed over their driver’s licence, data has shown, as councillors have criticised the “brazenness” of people who are “ignoring the law”.

In Cork, 601 drivers have been disqualified this year, according to figures released by minister of state at the Department of Transport Seán Canney.

Of these, 83 were disqualified in January, 54 in February, 113 in March, 91 in April, 98 in May, 87 in June, and 75 in July.

Of these, just 10 surrendered their driver’s licence in January, four in February, 12 in March, seven in April, another seven in May, nine in June, and none in July.

Overall, 8.1% of Cork drivers surrendered their licence — a decrease from 10.7% in 2024, when 873 Cork drivers were disqualified and 93 surrendered their licences.

“The sheer brazenness of those who have been disqualified from driving failing to hand over their licences is mind-boggling,” Labour councillor Peter Horgan told The Echo.

“I know that garda personnel issues have been well publicised, but the mindset of 552 people to not surrender lends itself to more issues around insurance and road safety. If you’re disqualified, you should not be on the road. End of.

“I would hope that these figures would feature for the new commissioner in assigning additional gardaí to the Road Policing Unit.

“We desperately, desperately need the Government to fast-track the legislation on automatic enforcement and targeting plates associated with these drivers.”

Fine Gael councillor Shane O’Callaghan told The Echo that the low percentage was “a very worrying statistic”, saying: “There needs to be enforcement.

“If someone is off the road, they should be obligated to hand over their licence.

“If they don’t, there should be repercussions such as an extended disqualification.

“It’s a very low amount that are surrendered, so we have a situation whereby the majority of people are basically flouting the law.”

He queried if the figures included people who could be appealing the disqualification, but said regardless, the figure was worrying: “If gardaí just look at a person’s licence, they wouldn’t know if the person had been disqualified — the law is just being ignored, and that’s not something we can accept.”

Mr Canney added: “A notification of disqualification is issued by the Courts Service for drivers who receive a court disqualification. Driving disqualification court order information is sent electronically from the Courts Service to my department.

“This information is then endorsed on driver records on the department’s National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF).

“The notification includes the requirement to surrender the driving or learner permit to the Road Safety Authority (RSA) within 14 days of commencement of the disqualification.

“It is an offence to drive while disqualified and once a driver is disqualified, their [licence] is no longer valid, whether it has been surrendered or not. In a significant share of disqualification cases, the driver in question has not had a [licence] at all.”

He added: “Failing to surrender a following disqualification is also an offence and is a matter for the Garda Síochána. An Garda Síochána has access to data on the NVDF, and can detect and prosecute drivers who continue to drive while disqualified — whether or not their has been surrendered.

“The key concern to me as minister and to the RSA is whether a driver who has been disqualified continues to drive on our roads.”