A new report into the penalty points system found that around one-in-six cancellations were subject to further investigation.

The report from the Garda Professional Standards Unit, published this afternoon, recommends a series of legal changes so that Gardaí have more time to investigate potential offences.

The Justice Minister this afternoon published a report of the Garda Professional Standards Unit, which examined a sample of 667 files where points were cancelled.

Of these, 114 were singled out for further investigation, and only seven of these refer to the period after June, when new rules were introduced to tighten the system.

It has also recommended that people should not be able to apply for an NCT without having paid the fines for any fixed-charge notices.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has appointed Judge Matthew Deery to become a new independent authority with responsibility for overseeing the system.

Ms Fitzgerald says that abuse of the system has drastically reduced since the last reforms were introduced in June

“There’s only seven cases from that period that require further investigation as to why the decision was taken,” she said.

“You have over four hundred thousand penalty point notices issued every year. We’re talking about 3.9% that are under examination and out of that now post-June you’re down to seven cases that require further examination,” she added.

The Garda Commissioner says the penalty points system is much stronger since new measures were brought in last June.

Since then, just three senior gardai are allowed to make a decision to cancel penalty points.

Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan says this shows that the reforms are working.

“Post the implementation of the new policy in June there are seven cases which require further examination and I think that is a very important point so I think what that demonstrates is that post-June the system is certainly strengthened from what was there before and that’s a very important aspect,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

Ms O'Sullivan spoke to the press following the publication of the report: