1,600 of those were issued in Kildare.
Nearly 25,000 fines were sent to people last year for holding a mobile phone while driving.
Over 5,000 were in Dublin, and 1,600 in Kildare.
Eoghan Murphy reports:
"If you're caught driving with a phone in your hand, or cradled in the crook of your neck, you face a fixed charge notice of 60 euro and three penalty points on your licence.
The Justice Minister says the gardai issued 24,475 fines for the offence last year.
5,047 were in Dublin, with over 2,700 in Cork.
Just over 1,600 were in Kildare, with over 1,500 in Galway.
The Garda division with the least was Sligo-Leitrim, with 237, with 355 in Westmeath.
Last year's total was down over 4,600 on 2019, but there were strict movement restrictions in place last year due to the pandemic. "
While 260 summons were issued in Kildare last year, arising from cases where drivers were detected using mobile phones.
In all, 1,601 fixed charge notices, including penalty points, were issued by Gardai to drivers in the county for the office in 2020.
16% of those cases resulted in summons, or the proceeding of the case to court.
Breakdown by division of the number of instances in which a party was issued with a Fixed Charge Notice for the offence of driving while holding a mobile phone.
| Division | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cavan/Monaghan | 1136 | 992 | 642 |
| Clare | 910 | 584 | 662 |
| Cork City | 1625 | 1333 | 1258 |
| Cork North | 1142 | 1170 | 928 |
| Cork West | 696 | 621 | 529 |
| D.M.R. Eastern | 1078 | 980 | 682 |
| D.M.R. North Central | 684 | 584 | 570 |
| D.M.R. Northern | 932 | 1235 | 962 |
| D.M.R. South Central | 973 | 1083 | 593 |
| D.M.R. Southern | 1113 | 1029 | 669 |
| D.M.R. Western | 1678 | 1599 | 1571 |
| Donegal | 460 | 613 | 578 |
| Galway | 2732 | 2253 | 1534 |
| Kerry | 1078 | 1119 | 806 |
| Kildare | 1591 | 1244 | 1601 |
| Kilkenny/Carlow | 1429 | 1122 | 1338 |
| Laois/Offaly | 1344 | 1041 | 814 |
| Limerick | 2524 | 2264 | 942 |
| Louth | 630 | 439 | 846 |
| Mayo | 717 | 1320 | 907 |
| Meath | 641 | 698 | 1250 |
| Roscommon/Longford | 714 | 614 | 421 |
| Sligo/Leitrim | 682 | 745 | 237 |
| Tipperary | 716 | 745 | 796 |
| Waterford | 1024 | 805 | 1090 |
| Westmeath | 443 | 351 | 355 |
| Wexford | 1620 | 1584 | 1237 |
| Wicklow | 862 | 939 | 657 |
| Grand Total | 31174 | 29106 | 24475 |
Breakdown by division of the number of instances in which a party was issued with a Fixed Charge Notice for the offence of driving while holding a mobile phone and, in addition, a summons was issued and/or the case was sent to court.
| Division | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cavan/Monaghan | 138 | 132 | 106 |
| Clare | 116 | 69 | 110 |
| Cork City | 225 | 173 | 196 |
| Cork North | 124 | 147 | 146 |
| Cork West | 64 | 61 | 37 |
| D.M.R. Eastern | 129 | 121 | 95 |
| D.M.R. North Central | 127 | 112 | 120 |
| D.M.R. Northern | 163 | 221 | 196 |
| D.M.R. South Central | 139 | 197 | 104 |
| D.M.R. Southern | 193 | 167 | 168 |
| D.M.R. Western | 307 | 326 | 353 |
| Donegal | 55 | 60 | 90 |
| Galway | 277 | 271 | 203 |
| Kerry | 137 | 134 | 131 |
| Kildare | 197 | 157 | 260 |
| Kilkenny/Carlow | 135 | 143 | 188 |
| Laois/Offaly | 145 | 130 | 120 |
| Limerick | 363 | 294 | 188 |
| Louth | 73 | 73 | 159 |
| Mayo | 56 | 128 | 126 |
| Meath | 85 | 92 | 186 |
| Roscommon/Longford | 71 | 63 | 62 |
| Sligo/Leitrim | 64 | 63 | 28 |
| Tipperary | 90 | 94 | 136 |
| Waterford | 103 | 104 | 161 |
| Westmeath | 43 | 34 | 55 |
| Wexford | 198 | 166 | 151 |
| Wicklow | 106 | 109 | 117 |
| Grand Total | 3923 | 3841 | 3992 |
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