THE ROAD SAFETY Authority (RSA) suffered 125 data breaches in less than two years, including driving documents sent to the U.S. state of Georgia and a computer fault that exposed details of 60 motorists.

Other cases included driving licences issued with the wrong photographs and signatures along with the accidental disclosure of PPS numbers and other personal information.

There were 75 data breaches recorded in 2024 with a further 50 logged during the first nine months of last year, according to records released under the Freedom of Information act.

Ten of the incidents were deemed serious enough to notify the Data Protection Commission (DPC), with five reports in each year.

In one case, multiple items were delivered to Georgia in the United States, although the breach was “not of RSA making”.

An internal log said the people involved had been notified of what happened and that most of the documents had been recovered.

In another case, a technical problem led to former owners appearing on vehicle test certificates in around 60 cases.

The information disclosed included names and addresses, with those affected contacted and the breach reported to the DPC.

Other incidents included one where a driving licence was produced with another motorist’s photograph and signature.

In a separate case, a ‘hybrid’ licence was generated that contained one person’s details but somebody else’s picture and signature.

The records also detail cases where PPS numbers got mixed up, confidential documents were sent to the wrong address, and where details of one motorist’s penalty points were disclosed to somebody else.

In another incident, a Garda declaration containing a driver’s name, address, birthdate and PPS number was mistakenly sent to the wrong person.

There were a couple of cases as well where books belonging to vehicle inspectors went astray.

A spokesman for the RSA said the authority kept its processes for managing data under continual review.

He said: “Data Protection training is provided to all staff, as well as relevant personnel within its managed service providers.”

The spokesman said the National Driver Licence Service was the origin of most breaches within the RSA but that it processed a huge amount of information each year.

This included issuing 890,000 driving licences in 2025, while data breaches accounted for less than 0.01% of overall processing activity.

He added: “The RSA reviews and analyses all breaches to identify lessons learnt and implement measures aimed at preventing recurrence.”