The Cabinet has decided to raid departmental budgets across the board to pay for the introduction of a Garda computer system needed to operate the driver penalty points system.
Talks with a contractor for the new FOTS system, which will operate within the Garda's existing PULSE computer system, should begin in weeks, the Department of Justice said last night.
However, the points system, which has been promised for several years, will not be fully operational for "three to four years", a senior Government source told The Irish Times last night.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, held talks with the Minister of Finance, Mr McCreevy, on the issue yesterday and made it clear that €4million should be found to begin the first phase of the project.
However, Mr McCreevy will not offer the Department of Justice any new resources.
"It was agreed that it should be found within existing budgets and not from Justice alone, but from all departments," an official source said.
In a brief statement, the Department of Justice gave little hint of the political horse-trading which has gone on behind the scenes between various departments.
"Contrary to statements that have been made, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is fully committed to the introduction, at an early date, of the computer facilities that are required to enable the Garda Síochána to operate the system of penalty points", said a spokesperson for the Department.
Road safety analysts insist that the penalty points system is the single greatest measure which could be taken to cut Ireland's horrific annual death toll on the roads.
However, the introduction of the system has been plagued by difficulties since the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, unveiled it in 1998.
Four computer systems are required to work together: those of the Garda, the Courts Service, the Department of the Environment and the local authorities.
Under the proposal, drivers will be disqualified for six months if they receive more than 12 penalty points in three years.
In November, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Mr Bobby Molloy, said that the Garda's FOTS computer should be operational by the end of 2002.
All courts will be linked to a main computer system by the middle of the year, a Department of the Environment spokesman said last night. These will keep records of all penalty points issued. This information in turn will be sent to the Department of the Environment's Shannon-based National Driver File.
"The Department's system is ready to roll," the Environment spokesperson added.
