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

I wish to move on to Ms Murphy from the Irish Road Haulage Association. Her presentation states that the cycling Bill, as proposed, to her mind, will be totally unworkable. It has not yet come before the committee. I find that everyone wants to blame somebody else. The drivers say the cyclists are irresponsible; the cyclists say the drivers are irresponsible. In fact, all of us, including cyclists, drivers, etc., bear an element of responsibility on the road to ensure that best practice is adhered to. I too have concerns about the separation distance and whether it will be feasible at all because of the width of the roads in certain locations. It simply may not be feasible, but we will have to work on that as the Bill passes through Committee Stage.

I welcome Ms Murphy's suggestion that everybody be compelled through legislation to wear high visibility jackets. I put forward such a proposal a few weeks ago in our first meeting. Everybody, including pedestrians and cyclists, should wear high visibility vests.

The IRHA calls for a full review of the CPC programme. I ask Ms Murphy to expand a little further on this. A great challenge for her organisation is how to maintain a pool of professional drivers, and it is a profession. It is important we have people who can capably and competently drive lorries. It is a highly skilled job and a very important one because if they do not drive correctly, it can cause widespread carnage on our roads. Is there anything we can do, or is there anything that needs to be done at a departmental level, to try to encourage or put in place a system which would help the IRHA? In light of the large road haulage movements of the IRHA's members between here, Britain and the rest of Europe, will Brexit have a detrimental impact on the IRHA's drivers, and could that in turn have an impact on road safety in the future?

My colleague, Deputy Fitzmaurice, raised the point about imported cars. Perhaps I missed it, but I do not think Mr. Lee answered the question and I ask him to come back to it.