Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For those 35 fatalities, how sure is the Minister that the reason for the accident was the pint or the pint and a half and that it was not some pedestrian who fell out on the road in front of the car and was lying in the road on the other side of the bend when the car came around? How sure is the Minister that it was not the black ice that caught the fellow only after drinking one pint and caused him to hit a bridge or a wall? How sure is the Minister that this is not one of the 35? How sure is he that it was not the case that a fellow going home, driving on his own side of the road was not hit by some mad driver doing 100 mph or 120 mph who crossed the road to his side? How sure is he that some of what I am talking about is not included in those figures? Perhaps most of them are.

That is what I want to check because while every member of the committee and the Chairman are entitled to their own opinions, I am saying loud and clear, I will say it everywhere and I have said it before, two glasses or three glasses of Guinness will not cause anyone to have a fatality. If we are going to go down that road, the next thing we will be saying is that the cough bottle or medicines for the flu will be the cause of the accidents as well. The Minister needs to get real about it and check out those figures because I know that what I am talking about is the truth. I would not make such a case about it except that I know that no accident or fatality was caused by someone having two or three glasses of beer or Guinness. I ask the Minister to check those figures because I do not think he has done that. If he had, we would not be here at all today.