Cross-border application of driving bans is sensible

Disagreements over Brexit are the most obvious areas of contention, but there are also disagreements over other issues relating to the political way forward in Northern Ireland.

Amid all this, however, today there is a development in terms of criminal co-operation between the jurisdictions.

Driving bans imposed on either side of the border will now be recognised in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The arrangement is the result of a 2015 agreement between the two governments.

This is a sensible measure, that should make the roads safer in the Republic and in Northern Ireland.

Some police officers have commented on how some motorists seem to speed up when they enter the jurisdiction in which they are not based, no doubt thinking that they can more easily escape sanction for offences such as speeding.

For that reason, there has long been a push to try to get some level of mutual recognition of things such as penalty points that have been applied to drivers’ licences for wrongdoing. It has been complicated by the fact that Northern Ireland has a different licencing system from Scotland, England and Wales, let alone the Republic.

Almost everyone in NI and the Republic is keen to see co-operation on administrative matters that do not have wider consequences for sovereignty. This is just such a matter.

Road safety has been relentlessly improving on both sides of the border since the 1960s and 70s, but the lack of recognition of mutual bans was an area in which further safety progress was impeded.

Awareness that bans are now recognised across the island should deter that very small but potentially very dangerous group of drivers whose reckless behaviour is only influenced by the prospects of being caught and punishment.