Motorists seem unable to stay off their mobile phones even when faced with heavy fines and penalty points, new Department of Transport statistics show.
Year-end statistics show that 25,090 penalty-points notices have been issued to people caught driving while holding a mobile phone since the offence was introduced in July 2006.
In just 18 months, driving while holding a phone has become the third most common offence after speeding and driving without a seat belt. The law makes no distinction between drivers who chat or text, as international studies have shown that merely holding a phone can impair concentration on the road.
Since September 2006, drivers caught using their phones, or about to use them, face an automatic €60 fine and the imposition of two penalty points. If they do not pay the fine within 28 days it can be increased to up to €2,000 while the points are doubled to four.
Speeding remains the most common driving offence. Since October 2002, 592,722 penalty points notices have been issued for speeding, 133,784 of them to drivers without a valid driving licence number - meaning they either had no licence or a foreign one.
Penalty points were first issued to drivers in 2002 for four key offences - speeding, no insurance, failure to wear seat belts and careless driving - and the system was expanded to include 31 other offences in April 2006.
Since then, penalty points have been issued in 45,816 cases to motorists for failing to wear a seat belt, in 13,314 cases to drivers for failing to obey traffic lights, and in 10,981 instances for disobeying traffic signs.
Close to 10,000 points notices have been issued to motorists for crossing a continuous white line.
One of the offences which has featured least frequently since the introduction of penalty points has been that of driving the wrong way on a motorway - 31 points notices have been issued in this category.
In 32 cases people have been caught contravening the requirements for reversing, while 34 notices have been issued to drivers who failed to observe a school warden's "stop" sign.