Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is fair enough. I thank the Minister for his honesty. It will save me from putting in a request for all correspondence regarding where it was stated that this is an anomaly. It does not exist, obviously, and it is an anomaly because the Minister decided that he needed to deal with it. That is his prerogative but it is an anomaly because he decided it to be so. That clarifies matters.

The Minister is correct that there are lobby groups and vested interests. When it comes to issues such as this, I listen to them but they do not formulate my decision for me. There are two items of legislation before the Oireachtas which relate to the Vintners Federation, which is the biggest vested interest in this interest. I support its opposition to one matter and vehemently disagree with its opposition to the other. I have informed the federation directly as to how I feel about both. I believe this is madness. It is something that is without any justification. I agree with the Chairman that it is not the number one priority.

If I were dealing with road safety issues, the number one priority would be getting into the detail and intricacy of some of the stupidity on the roads, including speeding and using mobile phones. An issue that drives me mad is the use of hard shoulders, which actually causes a number of accidents and fatalities, particularly when not on motorways.

The Minister is obviously quite passionate about this Bill. I attended a public meeting about it. Deputy Jackie Cahill expressed the view that Fianna Fáil would be opposing it. I expressed the same view for Labour. Virtually all the Independents there expressed the same view, and we have a number of them in Tipperary as the Minister knows. Therefore the likelihood of this legislation ever seeing the light of day is probably very slim.

I do not mind the fact that this is such a passionate issue for the Minister. Fair play to him if that is what he believes, but can he see himself continuing in Government if this Bill is defeated?