Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I will work through the different questions he has posed. The UK is the key issue when we seek to deal with cross-border recognition of speed limits. The Deputy is correct when he said the UK opted out of a convention - I believe it was under the Lisbon treaty but I am happy to be corrected - which created a challenge for Ireland. A successful agreement has been negotiated on this between us and the British Government which will require legislation. That will be included in the Road Traffic Act 2016 for which Cabinet approval will be sought next week. When that legislation is in place it will be enacted by the Dáil during the first half of 2016, which will then give primary legislative underpinning to the new arrangement between Ireland and the UK. Much work has been done between us and the Northern Ireland Executive on the technical matters and that work is ongoing. However, the new legal framework will be in place early in 2016 depending on the formation of the new Dáil and other matters.

I agree with Deputy Ellis's comments on drug testing. The evidence of Professor Denis Cusack from the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, supplied to this committee and on which he has spoken publicly, says that drugs are a significant factor in accidents on our roads, especially when combined with alcohol. The matter will be a priority for me in 2016. When this legislation is enacted we can begin work on the practical implementation of the Bill. I appreciate the support of the select committee here last week in agreeing the Supplementary Estimate which provides the funding to purchase the devices to be used on the roads in 2016.

I will now turn to the Deputy's query on Shannon Airport and the troop movement issue. During my participation in the transport Council over the last 18 months the topic of Shannon has not come up. Airport security is an issue that does feature but the particular matter of troop movements in Shannon tends to be something I would deal with domestically, given the specific responsibility I have for that area. General matters on foreign and justice policy would be dealt with by my colleagues in those respective areas.

The Volkswagen topic has not gone off the boil at all. I had a meeting in Dublin a few weeks ago with the Commissioner responsible for this area. The Single Market section of the Commission has responsibility for this area. Work is now under way to accelerate progress to real-time testing of emissions. At the last Council discussion on this I emphasised the support the Government has for this process.

With regard to tachographs, we are not making any proposals on the speed limit changes. The review will be general and the speed limits may be considered. However, from our national perspective we believe the speed limits currently in place are appropriate.

The Deputy is correct that remote access of tachograph units may be considered in the light of the review. I would be willing to consider and support such a facility if evidence was to emerge that it could make a contribution to driver safety and road safety in general.

It is left to national governments to decide how to implement speed limits. A number of other European states have implemented significantly lower speed limits in residential settings than those in place here. In some cases, they have been introduced by local rather than national authorities. The Road Traffic Bill 2016 will include provision for lower speed limits in residential areas. This is being done in response to work undertaken by the joint committee and concerns raised with me. We are making considerable progress in the roll-out of new signage with lower speed limits in residential communities. These new limits will apply in what will be known as home zones, for which new signage will be provided to inform drivers of the new limits. Good work has been done in this regard this year.

The Deputy is correct on the issue of drones. Last summer I attended an open day or information seminar organised by the Irish Aviation Authority on remote piloted aviation systems, RPAS, otherwise known as drones. I met representatives of a number of companies involved in this area and was struck by the significant number of them that were using data capture through video recording on RPAS. This technology is having a major effect on a large number of industries. My understanding was that it was primarily used for ordnance mapping. However, I have since learned that drones are increasingly being used in agriculture, infrastructure safety monitoring and construction. On my visits to the United States and the Continent earlier this year, I concluded that the development of these technologies would be the next phase in the development of global aviation. For this reason, we are examining whether appropriate safety and security regulations are in place for drone systems.