John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Twomey and Ms Murdock for their opening presentations, particularly for the facts and clarifications. Ms Murdock was correct when she said that there had been misinterpretations. It was as a result of that that we discussed the matter here and decided to invite the witnesses to come before the committee. It is good to give them an opportunity to clarify matters. It is great to see that the trend in fatalities is going in the right direction again. We were all worried because the number seemed to be moving upwards for the past couple of years. I say "Well done" to all of the witnesses on the part that they play in this work. A couple of years ago the committee visited the headquarters of the RSA in Ballina, County Mayo. On that occasion we saw in detail what the RSA does and the way it analysis statistics, which is important. Another important aspect mentioned by both witnesses was the ambivalence that people have towards drinking and driving. There is a still a long way to go in tackling such a mindset, and nobody can be complacent. It is a lesson to us all, from the point of view of media reports and the way figures are sometimes interpreted, that it is important to get the correct facts, and we have them today.