Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Fair enough. I wish to ask the Minister a couple of questions and will then conclude. I have two different areas that I want to ask about. How is the Minister's relationship with the Road Safety Authority? How is the Minister's relationship with the Chair of the Road Safety Authority? How often have they met?

The board of the Road Safety Authority is completely depleted. I believe that the RSA board is not meeting its function as regards the expertise it requires to function. I also believe that the RSA board believes that. Given the Minister's views on boards - which I disagree with, but leaving that aside - does he not think that an exception should be made to his personal rules in one Department as regards ensuring that this board has adequate people on it with expertise on a range of issues, including engineering, road safety and how messaging is communicated? Does the Minister not believe that the board needs to be ramped up to meet its actual requirements?