Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is very important. We are having these hearings in order to interact and engage with one another. As I stated at the outset, we have a duty and responsibility to ensure sentences should reflect the seriousness of the crime and penalties should be proportionate. To be fair, there is a big difference in somebody who adheres to the law, has a few pints one night, takes a taxi home and gets up the next morning with a residual amount of alcohol in his or her system. Someone like this should be dealt with differently from a person who leaves a public house having drunk a serious amount of alcohol before getting behind the wheel of a car.

I am conscious that we are focusing much of our effort on one particular issue when speed is still the largest contributing factor to deaths on our road. We brought forward legislation in this committee that was supported across all the political parties relating to introduction of random drug testing on roads. I would be interested to know when that will commence. With regard to the use of mobile phones, I had to pull in the car on a small regional road as a driver of an articulated lorry was coming along with one hand on the wheel of the vehicle and the other with his phone to his ear. I could not believe it. There are laws in place to prevent that happening and people speeding but they continue to do both.

My colleague, Deputy Fitzmaurice, was right in saying it is about ensuring we have the greatest amount of enforcement on our roads. For me it is about ensuring we do not clog our court system by giving people the opportunity to come in and fight legislation. The witness correctly pointed out some of this exists since 1960 and perhaps there is a job of work to be done in consolidating the law, leaving it fit for purpose so lawyers cannot have a field day in trying to defend the indefensible. People caught breaking the law severely should not be left on the road for six or nine months. Perhaps the penalty for somebody disqualified from driving but who is caught driving a car is not sufficient. A number of issues must addressed and fleshed out further.