The third payment option in Ireland: ending a summons at double the charge

What it is

The third payment option is the last point at which a fixed charge matter can be ended without a court hearing. Section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 provides for it. Once the two payment windows on a fixed charge notice have passed and a summons has issued, the summons comes with a further offer: pay double the original fixed charge no later than seven days before the court date, and the prosecution ends.

The point of it, from your side, is the penalty points. A fixed charge offence carries two figures, the points on payment and the higher points on conviction. The third option gives you the lower figure even though the matter has reached a summons. For speeding that is three points instead of five; for an unaccompanied learner two instead of four.

In 2025, 10,902 prosecutions in the District Court ended this way. The guide to a fixed charge notice covers the first two windows and how the matter reaches a summons.

The figures

The third payment is twice the charge printed on the original notice, not twice the second-window figure.

The 2026 proposal for graduated speeding points of three to seven, by how far over the limit you were, is not law; the figures above are the position at 15 October 2026. See /changes.

The seven days

The deadline is fixed by the Act: payment must be made not later than seven days before the date of the court sitting on the summons. Count back from the court date, not forward from when the summons arrived. The fixed charge notice clock does this for you and puts the cut-off in your calendar.

Two practical points. First, the summons may arrive twelve to fourteen weeks before the court date, which leaves plenty of time, but only if it reaches you; a summons sent to an old address can arrive with the seven days already gone. Second, "seven days before" is a hard line in the Act. The Garda's processing office has no discretion to accept a later payment, and the judge on the day cannot apply the option for you.

How to pay

The summons, or a notice sent with it, carries the amount and the payment route, which is the same An Post route as the original notice: online with the notice number, or at a post office. The Garda's page on paying a fixed charge notice describes it. Keep the receipt or the confirmation, and bring it with you if you are in any doubt whether the payment registered before the court date. If it did, the case is withdrawn and you do not need to attend; the court office can confirm this if you ring with the summons number before the day.

What it is not

It is not a conviction. Paying under section 44 ends the prosecution without a finding. Nothing goes on the court record against you, and there is nothing for Garda vetting to disclose. The points are a separate matter: under the Road Traffic Act 2002 as amended they are endorsed on your licence record 28 days after the notice of endorsement and run for three years from that date. The penalty points calculator shows the running total and the expiry dates.

It is not a plea. You do not admit anything in court, because there is no court. If you want to contest the offence, the third option is not for you: paying ends the case on the Garda's terms.

It is not a discount. It is double the charge. The benefit is in the points and in not having a conviction, not in the money.

When it is offered

The option exists only where the matter began as a fixed charge notice. It is offered with the summons for the ordinary fixed charge offences: speeding, a mobile phone, a seatbelt, no NCT, a learner unaccompanied, careless driving without a collision, and the other offences on the list of penalty points and fixed charges.

It is offered whether or not you received the original notice. If the notice went astray and the summons is the first you knew of it, the third option is still on the summons, at double the charge.

When it is not available

• Court-only offences. Driving without insurance, driving without a licence, dangerous driving, drink or drug driving and careless driving with a collision were never fixed charge matters. A summons for any of them carries no payment option; the court decides.
• After the seven days. Once the cut-off has passed the option is gone, even by a day.
• Where you want a hearing. If you plead not guilty and the court finds the offence proved, the court's points and a fine follow; you cannot pay at the lower rate afterwards.
• A notice already paid. If you paid within the first or second window and a summons still arrived, that is an error to raise with the Fixed Charge Processing Office with your receipt, not a reason to pay again.

The decision

Most people with a single speeding or phone summons take the option. The alternative is a day in court where the points on conviction are higher, the fine is fixed by the judge under the Fines Act 2010 and a minor motoring conviction follows. The court route makes sense where you did not commit the offence and intend to say so with evidence, or where the summons carries other charges that have to be answered anyway. The guide to contesting a fixed charge notice sets out what a not guilty plea involves and what the court decides on.

One figure worth holding in mind: twelve points in three years brings six months' disqualification, seven for a learner or a novice. If the lower points on the third option keep you under the threshold and the court's points would not, the option is doing real work. The penalty points calculator runs both totals side by side.

Where this leaves you

Enter the court date from the summons into the fixed charge notice clock to get the seven-day cut-off as a date, and pay before it if you are taking the option. If you are going to court instead and may qualify for legal aid, ask the judge for it at your first appearance; /legal-aid explains the means and gravity tests, and for a single fixed charge offence the gravity test is seldom met. /solicitor explains how to find a solicitor where the summons carries more than a fixed charge matter.