Citizenship Application - Speeding Offences (and summons?)

ManUnited123

Hello -

Not sure if someone here would be able to answer my question, but thought I'd post it here anyway.

I'm currently in the process of applying for my Irish Citizenship (completed 5 years finally yay ). I'm filling out the form and in section 11 it asks the following questions:

11.1 Have you ever committed any offences against the laws of Ireland or any overseas country?
Would speeding offences come under this? I was also fined once on the Luas for apparently not paying the fare, would that come under this as well? (it was an honest mistake, I tagged my leap card on the station but instead of starting the trip it ended my previous trip as I forgot to tag off on the previous Luas! I paid 80eur fine later after pleading my innocence with the Luas team)

11.3 Do you have any convictions in the State or any other country (including traffic offences) or any civil judgements made against you?
11.4 Date of conviction or judgement:
11.5 Place where conviction or judgement took place and the outcome:

For the above 3 questions, there are 2 instances where I was caught over speeding by the cameras.

First instance, I didn't receive the notice in the post for the penalty points / fine and I only became aware of it when a gardai came over to my apartment and handed me a summons . I had to go in court and tell the judge I didn't receive the post so I wasn't aware of any fine which I had to pay. The judge dismissed my case and I didn't had to pay any fine or receive any penalty points. Apparently this happens with a lot of people.

Second instance, I received the notice and I paid the fine and the penalty points were applied to my license (they will expire in a few months)


Do I need to disclose both these instances in the above questions? For the second instance I paid the fine and got the penalty points so there's no conviction here so I assume I don't need to mention the second one? On the first instance I'm confused as I didn't receive the notice to pay the fine and also the judge dismissed my case as well so there was no fine or penalty points applied.

Lastly, would the above instances have any impact on my nationality application?

Sonrisa

I would disclose the speeding offence where you got the summons in response to the first questions and explain that you didn't get the fine, got the summons and the judge dismissed the case. You do not have a conviction, but this will show up on your pulse record when they check with the Gardai.

IMO you do not need to disclose the other two, which are fixed fine penalty notices.

I wouldn't be concerned that these will have any effect on your app.

ManUnited123

Sonrisa wrote: »

I would disclose the speeding offence where you got the summons in response to the first questions and explain that you didn't get the fine, got the summons and the judge dismissed the case. You do not have a conviction, but this will show up on your pulse record when they check with the Gardai.

IMO you do not need to disclose the other two, which are fixed fine penalty notices.

I wouldn't be concerned that these will have any effect on your app.

That's good to hear! I'm kind of worried that these small instances could hold up my application and with there being delays already due to Covid, I'm probably looking at a long time for my application to be processed.

The form also states "You must include evidence that you have paid any fines levied against you with this application." so I assume I need to disclose both the Luas and the other speeding fine as well?

Sonrisa

ManUnited123 wrote: »

That's good to hear! I'm kind of worried that these small instances could hold up my application and with there being delays already due to Covid, I'm probably looking at a long time for my application to be processed.

The form also states "You must include evidence that you have paid any fines levied against you with this application." so I assume I need to disclose both the Luas and the other speeding fine as well?

Alas the application will take ages, I wouldn't be getting worried for about two years, it's ridiculous.

In my view no, that relates to fines from a court in relation to any convictions. But it's up to you and you might want to take someone elses view on that.

ManUnited123

Sonrisa wrote: »

Alas the application will take ages, I wouldn't be getting worried for about two years, it's ridiculous.

In my view no, that relates to fines from a court in relation to any convictions. But it's up to you and you might want to take someone elses view on that.

Thanks! Yeah the last thing I want is for them to think I'm hiding information so I'm leaning towards providing information in relation to these fines but at the same time I'm worried of providing information which may not be required as it may impact on my application.