Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive outline of what he intends to discuss tomorrow. I will go through it briefly as others have covered most of what I wanted to say. On the issue of road safety and the introduction of the road package for 2016, how is the Minister moving towards the interconnectedness of the penalty point system in different states? We have the greatest interaction with our nearest neighbour but there is a view that penalty points collected in France, for example, should apply to an Irish person's licence when they come home in order to improve driver behaviour. Will the Minister indicate whether any discussions have taken place on that issue?

The technology aspect is important. I concur with the points made and I have spoken with the Minister before about the issues in Calais. I was there during the summer with the Road Haulage Association, which has been making good headway with the Department and the authorities in the UK on avoiding the kind of sanctions that were in place. The Minister has provided considerable assurance on that issue, which has been helpful to the industry. The tailing-off of activity at present is a result of the weather. The expectation is based on hostilities continuing in the zones of conflict. The numbers of refugees have been tailing off during the winter period but as spring moves into summer again there will be a continued movement. It is an issue that needs to be monitored on a continuing basis.

On the road safety issue, the Minister knows that in some European countries there are incentives aimed at improving driver behaviour through advanced learning and back to education driver improvement courses. Has the Minister a view on the introduction of such a system here whereby if somebody takes part in such a programme, a number of penalty points would be expunged from their tally? It has been successfully implemented in many countries in Europe and the United States. What is the Minister's view on it? Is it something he expects will be part of the overall package in the sense of a broader interconnectedness, rather than a complete harmonisation of policy across Europe?

I concur with almost all of the other speakers on the issue of drones. It is fantastic technology which has huge benefits but I have some concerns in the short term about the impact on civil aviation. The Minister has rightly identified the issues around altitudes and locations in and around airports.