THE legal loophole which existed up until now whereby Northern drivers who were disqualified here were, technically, still able to drive on the Republic's roads has now been closed.

Following last week's historic British - Irish Council meeting, a new initiative was agreed whereby drivers disqualified from driving in Northern Ireland, and across the rest of the UK, will automatically be banned in the Republic from next April.

A reciprocal penalty points system is also in the pipeline but it will not be introduced until later in 2008.

One sixth of drivers caught speeding the Republic last year escaped penalty points because they were registered in Northern Ireland.

Drivers here, in the rest of the UK and in the Republic are all automatically disqualified if they gain a total of 12 penalty points on their licence.

Penalty points are incurred for many driving related offences, including speeding and careless driving as well as drivers caught driving while using their mobile phone.

Commenting on the new initiative, Inspector Alywn Gurney, Road Policing welcome the announcement: "It doesn't really make much sense for drivers to be disqualified from driving in one part of an island but seemingly free to drive once you cross a border".

However, he stressed that, despite what people thought, 'if they are disqualified from driving then their insurance becomes invalid'.

The Inspector revealed that, in recent months, the Police have been working much closer with the Gardai and this has reaped many benefits.

"We now liaise with the Gardai on a monthly basis", he stated, " and we often take part in joint operations".

Both the Police and the Gardai, he said, were aware there was a problem around the border areas and, with increased co-operation between police on both sides of the border, then offenders stood a much higher chance of getting caught.