Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to welcome the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, and his officials, Mr. Ray O'Leary, Mr. Declan Hayes and Ms Nicola Hayes. I thank all of them for giving of their time.

By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if they are directed by it to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

Before we commence, I will outline the main provisions of the Bill. Section 29 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 is to be amended such that all those detected drink driving above a certain limit will be subject to automatic disqualification from driving, while those detected driving with alcohol levels between 50 mg and 80 mg will be subject to disqualification from driving for three months instead of receiving three penalty points, which is the current position.

I invite the Minister to make his opening statement.