The new Minister of State for Transport has said graduated penalty points, linked to levels of speeding, would be fair and proportionate.
James Lawless said such a system "is well worth considering and is already being considered" by the Government.
He was speaking after it emerged the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris had written to the then Minister of State for Transport in May, urging that the introduction of graduated penalty points for speeding - proportionate to the level of an offence - be considered.
The revelation was made in an article in the Irish Times based on a Freedom of Information request.
Mr Lawless, who recently succeeded Jack Chambers when he was appointed the Minister for Finance, said the Commissioner's proposal "makes sense" and is "already on the table in the department".
"I think it's more proportionate, because it means that somebody who was going 85 in an 80 zone, for example, might get one penalty point. Someone who's doing 160 in a 120 zone might be hit with four or five penalty points."
"I think there's a proportionality to that and there's a fairness to that, that people will instinctively respond to," he added.
Such a system was also proposed by former Transport Minister Shane Ross during the previous government.
Minister Lawless has also asked his officials to examine the introduction of a programme of re-education aimed at sanctioning problematic drivers and re-offenders.
"As well as penalty points, a bad driver could be forced to go on a three-day re-education course in terms of good habits and awareness of what their impacts can cause on the roads."
Mr Lawless believes it would be "an interesting measure to explore" as part of the efforts to address dangerous behaviour on the roads.
The Minister said he is "particularly concerned" about the growing number of fatalities.
102 people have lost their lives in incidents on the roads since the start of the year, which is 15 more than the same time in 2023.
"We have seen a number of road deaths in the last probably week or 10 days, unfortunately, there's been a spike."
"Every death on the road is a tragedy. Every life lost is one too many."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Minister Lawless said there were around "20 deaths per month" during the first quarter of the year, which he said had reduced to around "11 deaths per month" in the second quarter.
"I know that's still too many, we’d prefer to have zero, but it does correlate with the measures being introduced."
In a statement tonight, the Garda Commissioner said he remains of the view that "a graduated penalty points system commensurate with relevant offences would deter poor driving and bad behaviours" on the roads.
Drew Harris said a graduated system would "ensure that drivers travelling at higher speeds would be more severely punished, given that speed plays a significant role in fatalities and serious injuries".
He added that An Garda Síochána "is fully committed to road safety and reducing the number of fatalities" on the roads.
Commissioner Harris said: "As I have previously stated, road safety is not something we can resolve alone and we continue to work with our partner agencies to ensure our roads are a safer place for all.
"My sympathies and thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by incidents on our roads."
A 'terrible year so far'
Sarah O'Connor, Director of External Affairs at the RSA said that a number of measures are being looked at to tackle driver behaviour on Irish roads after a "terrible year so far" when it comes to fatal road traffic collisions.
She said that a graduated penalty points system for speeding was considered in the past, but that all of the partners involved in road safety are very concerned about what is being seen on the roads over the course of the last 18 months or two years.
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, she said: "At the end of the year we'll be moving into phase two of the road safety strategy. It is a really important point in time for not only the guards but for ourselves, the Department of Transport for the Minister to be weighing up what the policy measures are that can be included in phase two, and that may have an impact.
"Driver re-education has been identified as being a very important part of that, the same kind of consequences and penalty points conversation and obviously this graduated penalty points pieces is also in the mix."
Ms O'Connor explained that the RSA launched a series of audio ads based around the dangerous behaviors it is concerned about such as drink and drug driving, seatbelt use, and speeding.
She described them as quite hard hitting, particularly ones that focus on an autopsy and show that issues like drink and drug driving and speeding are serial killers in Ireland.
Speaking about the rise in fatal road traffic collisions this year, she said that there are communities across the country that are just really grappling with this, and who are dealing with the worst possible case scenarios that they could face.
"That's why we have to get our awareness campaigns absolutely laser sharp."
