The Director of Public Prosecutions has taken a High Court challenge to a District Court decision which could result in hundreds of motorists summonsed for alleged parking offences not having to pay any penalty.
The situation arose because of Judge Desmond Windle's concerns about the way ownership of the motorists' vehicles was registered.
Judge Windle was not satisfied with the system at the Motor Taxation Office to authenticate legal ownership. While he refused to make orders in the cases, it is unclear whether the Gardai will re-enter them.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice O Caoimh gave leave to the DPP to take judicial review proceedings in relation to one sample case. A date for the hearing will be set later.
Mr Anthony Collins, for the DPP, submitted there was a failure by the District Judge to accept certificates issued by the MTO of ownership of the vehicles concerned.
Ms Claire Loftus, a principal solicitor in the Chief State Solicitor's Office, said Judge Windle had disregarded the relevant provisions of the Finance Acts whereby the certificates were sufficient evidence of the facts stated on them until the contrary was shown.
The DPP had relied on the certificates to identify owners of vehicles alleged to have been parked or otherwise operated in contravention of various provisions of the Road Traffic Acts and the Finance Acts.
Ms Loftus said she was informed that, on July 10th and 11th, Judge Windle refused to make any order in respect of a large number of summonses alleging contraventions of the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking Regulations) Act, 1997. The reason given was that the certificates issued by the MTO of Dublin Corporation could not be relied on for entering convictions in respect of the summonses.
Although an administrative officer of the MTO Office was summoned to appear before the District Judge on both dates to give evidence regarding the preparation and content of certificates, Judge Windle refused to make orders in respect of those summonses.
Ms Loftus said she had been instructed that the judge had raised a difficulty as regards convicting "certain entities" of parking offences under the Road Traffic Acts, notably business names that appeared without further qualification on certificates issued by the MTO. She conceded there was no question of the DPP seeking to have the District Court convict entities that were not known to law.