Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates. The graph covering the period from 1997 to 2016 shows that many of the measures introduced have saved lives, which is very welcome. I grew up at a time when drinking and driving was acceptable. People did not stop because they could kill themselves or somebody else but because they might lose their licence or the cost of their insurance would increase. The delegates are correct that there is a need for enforcement because if people think they can get away with something, they will try to do so.

Our job, as legislators, is to craft legislation and make sure it is fair. I have dealt with many vested interests, including various health groups, the Catholic Church, the GAA, chambers of commerce, the IFA and residents' associations. Certainly, I do not see vintners as a serious pressure group. I have found them to be quite reasonable. We all have a vested interest in what happens, including the Road Safety Authority which is interested in ensuring fewer people will be killed on the roads. It is a personal, not a financial, interest. A few times I have heard vintners being described as a vested interest. Yes, they have a vested interest because they are businesspeople who are doing their best, but it is our job to try to be fair.

I am probably guilty of using a mobile phone and texting in the car. I have a hands-free kit, but I use and look at Google maps while driving through the city. In my heart and soul I know that is wrong and that I should pull in. Does this mean that down the road, if we reduce the blood alcohol limit so low that it will save lives, we will effectively ban the use of mobile phones in cars because people are texting?

As regards people who do not wear seat belts, we have a young child. If I am sitting in the back of the car with her and she is crying, I am tempted to take her out of the seat, but I will not do so. The delegates will understand where I am going. We are tackling the issue of drink driving, rightly so, but will the Road Safety Authority eventually propose that the use of mobile phones in cars be banned, unless part of a hands-free kit?