List of penalty points and fixed charges in Ireland, 2026

Every penalty point offence in Ireland has three numbers attached to it: the points you get if you pay the fixed charge, the points you get if you are convicted in the District Court instead, and the charge itself. This guide lists them in one table, taken from the RSA's published table of offences and the figures the Road Traffic Acts fix, as they stood on 15 October 2026.

The charge in the table is the amount for the first 28 days. It rises by 50% for the next 28 days, and once a summons has issued the third payment option is double the original. A €160 speeding charge is therefore €160, then €240, then €320. For how the three windows work see the guide to a fixed charge notice.

The table

Where a row says "to verify", the figure comes from a secondary source and has not yet been confirmed against the current RSA table or the regulations. Treat it as the likely figure and check the notice in your hand, which states the charge that applies to you.

Points on conviction of "0" in a court-only row means the court imposes a disqualification rather than points. Dangerous driving and drink driving carry a disqualification on conviction, not a points total.

Reading the table

The pattern across the fixed charge offences is simple: pay and get the lower figure, be convicted and get the higher. The gap is two points on every line. The reason the Acts set it up this way is to give people a reason to settle at the notice stage rather than take up a court's time; it also means that a day in court on a point offence carries a cost beyond the fine if the result is a conviction.

The "court only" rows are offences the Oireachtas decided were too serious for a notice. Driving without insurance is the one most people meet. It is always a summons, the court decides between five points and a disqualification of two years or more, and the conviction is a criminal record. The guide to driving without insurance covers it.

Two rows need a word of explanation.

No motor tax. There are no penalty points for not having tax. The fixed charge is €60, and the arrears of tax are a separate matter pursued by the motor tax office. If you are found driving an untaxed car the Garda can also detain it. The guide to no NCT, no tax and no licence sets out the three together.

Careless driving without a collision. Since the Road Traffic Act 2016 the Garda can deal with careless driving by fixed charge where nothing was hit and nobody was hurt: €80 and two points. Where there was a collision, an injury or anything else that aggravates it, the offence goes to court under section 52 of the Road Traffic Act 1961, and the court decides between points and a disqualification. The two are compared in the guide to dangerous driving and careless driving.

The offences people search for

No NCT. Three points, €60. Once a car is old enough to need a certificate, the fixed charge is issued whether the certificate expired last week or last year. If the car has no valid certificate the Garda can also seize it. See the no NCT guide.

Seatbelt. Three points, €120, for the driver not wearing one. A driver is also responsible for a child passenger who is not properly restrained, with the same charge and points on the RSA table; that row is marked to verify. Adult passengers are responsible for themselves.

Bald tyres. Two points, €80, for a tyre below the legal tread depth. The figure is marked to verify. It is one offence per tyre, which is how a single stop can produce several notices.

Bus lane. One point, €60. The figure is marked to verify.

Red light. Three points, €80, marked to verify. Breaking a red light where the Garda sees it as more than a momentary lapse can be prosecuted as careless or dangerous driving instead, with no fixed charge.

Mobile phone. Three points, €120, for holding a phone while driving. The offence is holding it; a hands-free device is not within the fixed charge. The mobile phone guide covers the detail.

Learner driving alone. Two points, €160, and the Garda may seize the car. See the unaccompanied learner guide.

What the points add up to

Every row in the table counts towards the same total. Twelve points within three years brings six months off the road; seven for a learner permit holder or a driver in the first two years of a full licence. The points are endorsed 28 days after the notice of endorsement and last three years from that date. How the clock runs is in the guide to penalty points in Ireland, and the consequences of reaching the threshold in the guide to the 12-point disqualification.

A worked example from the table: a driver with three points from a speeding notice in 2025 pays a phone notice (three more, total six) and a no-NCT notice (three more, total nine) in 2026. One more speeding notice paid in 2027 brings the total to twelve within three years of the first endorsement, and the disqualification follows. The same driver convicted in court on the last speeding charge instead gets five points, and reaches fourteen. The penalty points calculator runs this arithmetic on your own dates.

Changes proposed for 2026 and after

Three things on this table may change. None had changed by 15 October 2026.

Graduated speeding points. In January 2026 the Department of Transport proposed replacing the flat three points for speeding with a scale of three to seven points depending on how far over the limit the driver was. The proposal needs legislation and had not been enacted. The three and five in the speeding row are the law until it is.

Points for each offence on the same occasion. Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 2024 would endorse points for each of several offences committed on the same occasion rather than the highest only. It had not been commenced.

Points alongside a disqualification. Since 31 March 2025, under section 4 of the 2024 Act, points are endorsed even where the court imposes an ancillary disqualification of up to six months. A further Bill in the Government's 2026 road safety package would clarify points where a driver is also disqualified; the text was not published.

The changes page records each of these when it is commenced, with the date.

Where this leaves you

Find your offence in the table, note the two point figures, and put them into the penalty points calculator with the points already on your record: it shows your total under each route and the date each block expires. If the notice is still within its 28 days, the choice between paying and the court is explained in the guide to a fixed charge notice.

If a summons has already arrived, the court date tool counts the days, and the guide to appealing penalty points explains what the court can and cannot do with the points. If you may qualify for legal aid, ask the judge for it at your first appearance; the legal aid page explains the tests. A solicitor can tell you whether a plea in mitigation is likely to matter on your charge.