Gardaí will be given access to details about drivers' insurance policies from today.
Information on 5 million drivers is to be shared daily with officers in an effort to cut down on un-insured driving.
It will come from The Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland, and will also include 3 million vehicles.
The data shared includes the name, address and policy number of the driver, the validity dates of the insurance and the covered vehicle's registration number.
Transport Consultant, Conor Faughnan, says this is going to be a very useful tool:
He says Gardaí have had automatic number plate recognition devices in their cars for years.
"But they could do nothing with the information, now they can."
"It means the guards will immediately be able to see, as soon as they have a registration number, whether that car is insured, what the policy is and who is insured to drive it."
Conor says vehicles with an issue will "ping" and the guards can "go after" that driver.
"We should have had it years ago," Conor added, but he did say this is "really really good news."
