Brian Walsh (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on significant road safety legislation. I understand this is the third road safety Bill the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has introduced since assuming office only 14 months ago. This emphasises the importance he attaches to the issue. The Minister has consistently identified as a priority the introduction of measures that will help to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers on our roads, and significant progress has been made in this regard. 2011 was the sixth consecutive year in which the number of road fatalities declined, and last year's figure of 186 fatalities was the lowest since records began. To date this year, the number of road deaths has been significantly lower than it was at this point in 2011; therefore, we are on course to reduce that number even further.

We are very quick on this side of the House to blame the Members opposite for things they get wrong. It is important on this occasion, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, that we recognise the contribution made by the previous Government in improving safety on our roads, in particular people like Noel Dempsey and our fellow county man, Séamus Brennan, who was Minister for Transport in the past. They have contributed a huge amount to improving safety on our roads over the years. This Government is continuing in that vein with the introduction of this Bill.

While these statistics are an indication that the Government and State agencies are moving in the right direction, it would be wrong for us to suggest these figures represent a success, because just one life lost on our roads is one too many, as many thousands of people affected by such tragedies can attest. It is for this reason that this Bill, which has the potential to reduce road fatalities even further, is to be welcomed wholeheartedly, and I strongly commend it to the House. It is a further significant step in the right direction, given that nearly one in five fatal road accidents in Ireland involve commercial vehicles. It proposes to strengthen and reform the area of commercial vehicle road worthiness, and streamline the Irish driver licence system, which has operated through a number of disparate strands since 1964.

When legislation like this comes before the House, there is sometimes a tendency to focus on the technical detail and lose sight of the human side and the background to the Bill. Therefore, it is important to remember that the provisions of this Bill have been shaped by the recommendations of a review that followed two tragic road accidents a little over six years ago. A number of young people lost their lives in tragedies involving buses at Kentstown in County Meath and at Clara in County Offaly in 2005 and 2006. In the case of the five schoolgirls who died tragically in the Kentstown crash, an inquest subsequently heard that the driver would not have lost control of the vehicle if the anti-lock braking system had been working properly. A well regulated system of ensuring commercial vehicle road worthiness might have meant that things worked properly, and if the Bill before us now was in place back then, perhaps such a tragedy could have been averted. It is unfortunate that tragedies are sometimes required as a precursor for the kind of change that we are introducing today, but it is responsible legislation such as this which will bolster road safety and allow us to avoid such "if only" scenarios in future. By introducing a regime of standardised and enforcement of safety standards for commercial vehicles, we are answering the call of those who advocated greater regulation following those two tragedies in particular.

I welcome this Bill and any measures that will further reduce the number of lives lost on our road. I commend the Minister for introducing his third Bill in his short time at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. I also commend the Bill to the House.

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