The half a million motorists in Ireland with three or more penalty points on their licence could be paying an additional penalty of hundreds of euro in the form of higher motor insurance premiums, a fact that many motorists simply don’t realise.
Driving behaviour like speeding and using a mobile phone is not only dangerous, but also has knock-on implications on your pocket, often resulting in higher insurance premiums for drivers who have points on their licence.
Analysis of official data for the first half of 2026 shows that in Ireland, 387,028 drivers hold exactly three points, representing the vast majority of all penalised drivers. Just over 1,000 drivers are on 12 points, which is the mandatory threshold for disqualification, and just over 900 are on 11 points - just one offence away from being put off the road.
Ian Kennedy, Chief Marketing Officer of OUTsurance advised:
“The number of penalty points dished out to Irish drivers is up almost 8% - or 40,000 drivers - over the last year. Speeding penalty point offences, for example, are up from 428,508 last June to 441,602 in June 2026, which is an increase of 3%. Arguably the rise isn’t huge – but you would hope that the number of people speeding on Irish roads would be going down and not up.
What we're trying to do is draw attention to the need for greater care on Irish roads. The dangers of speeding and mobile phone use are huge, but there are occasions that motorists can lose sight of that once they're behind the wheel. If they know there's an added cost involved too – on top of the penalty point fine - in the form of higher premiums, then maybe that will act as one more deterrent and another reason to think twice before breaking the rules.
Insurers look at a whole range of factors when they're working out your premium, and penalty points are up there as a significant consideration. And it's not just how many points you've got but the type of offence and what kind of licence you hold matter too. As a general rule of thumb, the more points on your licence, the more you're likely to pay.
Ian Kennedy, Chief Marketing Officer of OUTsurance advised,
“The number of penalty points dished out to Irish drivers is up almost 8% - or 40,000 drivers - over the last year. Speeding penalty point offences, for example, are up from 428,508 last June to 441,602 in June 2026, which is an increase of 3%. Arguably the rise isn’t huge – but you would hope that the number of people speeding on Irish roads would be going down and not up.
What we're trying to do is draw attention to the need for greater care on Irish roads. The dangers of speeding and mobile phone use are huge, but there are occasions that motorists can lose sight of that once they're behind the wheel. If they know there's an added cost involved too – on top of the penalty point fine - in the form of higher premiums, then maybe that will act as one more deterrent and another reason to think twice before breaking the rules.
Insurers look at a whole range of factors when they're working out your premium, and penalty points are up there as a significant consideration. And it's not just how many points you've got but the type of offence and what kind of licence you hold matter too. As a general rule of thumb, the more points on your licence, the more you're likely to pay.’’
The data is stark, with nearly 75% of all penalty point offences on Irish roads attributed to just two behaviours: speeding and mobile phone use. Within that, speeding remains the overwhelming driver of penalty point awards, far outpacing every other safety category.
Ian Kennedy observed:
“The gap between speeding and all other offences is major. Speeding accounts for around 65% of all active notices, which is more than six times the number for the next most prevalent offence, mobile phone use.
It’s interesting that while over half a million drivers have points, most of them just have 3 – which is usually equal to one offence. So for the vast majority of drivers, rather than being a case of continually breaking the rules, they may have had just one lapse in judgement.”
Ian continued:
“Following years of improvement, we're now seeing road fatalities rise again, and that's something we can't ignore. There were 185 people killed on Irish roads in 2025, up from 171 in 2024, which is an 8% increase, and the highest annual total in several years. And according to the most recent figures up to the end of August 128 people have died on our roads already this year.
The road safety campaigns and Garda enforcement efforts are still making a difference, but the recent figures show there's more to be done. If there's another way to get people to sit up and take notice we believe it's worth looking at, and raising awareness of the added cost of penalty points might be a smaller measure, but if it makes 1 person change their driving behaviour then it’s worth it.”
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Sources:
penalty-points-stats-june-2025.pdf
penalty-points-stats-june-2026.pdf
Road Deaths Increase in 2025
Roads Policing Statistics for 2026 - Garda