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

Anything I say is not aimed personally at today's two witnesses. They have been sent in here to do a job. I am sent in here by the public to do a job. I do not represent vintners. I am a publican and I have never hidden that. I live in the pub. The people I represent have told me that this is a crusade to further isolate people in rural Ireland.

On a previous occasion I attended a meeting of this committee, figures were produced which indicated between 2008 and 2012, inclusive, 35 people were killed in collisions in which alcohol levels of 20 mg to 80 mg were a factor. I asked whether the figures involved cases such as a person walking on the footpath having had several drinks who is then struck by a car driven by a person who has taken no alcohol. I want the details of the 35 incidents that were referred to. I have not received the breakdown. Do they involve incidents such as someone who had had a few drinks, chose to walk home and fell off the footpath, possibly on a dark road, and was then struck by a driver who had not been drinking? Perhaps they involve a driver who had an alcohol level of between 20 mg and 80 mg and was minding his own business when some other person going out of his mind and doing 100 mph to 120 mph came across the road and hit him? Was there an incident of a person going home after having one pint or with an alcohol level of between 20 mg and 80 mg who then hit black ice and that was the overriding factor in the incident?

I want a breakdown of those figures because the statistics indicated that 19 people were killed in collisions in which alcohol levels of 20 mg to 50 mg were a factor and 16 were killed in collisions involving drivers with alcohol levels of between 50 mg and 80 mg. As Senator O'Mahony said, the argument put forward by the witnesses on the previous occasion is not helping their case. There is no mention in the document given to members today of the exact figures that were referred to on the previous occasion the witnesses appeared before this committee. I want the figures to be fairly presented and the witnesses to outline what were the real causes of the accidents. Many people are killed while walking home. Many people are killed on the roads while sober. We need to get the breakdown of those figures because the public is not accepting that a fair argument is being presented to them.

The purpose of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, is to save lives. Members of Kerry County Council and Members of the Oireachtas who represent Kerry have highlighted locations where fatalities have been caused by poor road layouts. A lady cycling a bicycle was killed a week ago at the top of the Upper Lewis Road in Killarney where one accesses the bypass. I am not saying that the road layout was the cause of that accident but the design of that junction needs to be addressed. We have been making representations for many years about places such as that or Glenflesk, where five people have been killed and the road camber is at the wrong angle in both directions. Why is the RSA not doing something about that?

To get back to what this debate is about, I need the witnesses to bring the statistics and facts before us or to the Dáil Chamber, if the Minister wishes to do that. We need the breakdown of blame to be apportioned to the driver when he or she has between 20 mg and 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood and to categorically state that a driver with a certain level of alcohol in his or her blood was the cause of an accident or fatality. To date, they have not done that. I asked the same of the Minister when he sat over there a number of weeks ago.

Commercial and professional drivers who drive buses and lorries are effectively at a zero tolerance level of 20 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. People in rural Ireland with one vehicle, be it a van, jeep or small tractor, are categorised in the same way as that professional driver so they are at a zero tolerance level. These people have been hit already and they only have one vehicle. They would lose the van or jeep that they use to bring bags of meal or whatever during the day. They use the same vehicle to go to town or a local village for a bit of socialising. They are treated unfairly under our laws. I asked the Minister to consider this in framing his Bill and to get rid of this unfair anomaly but he or the Department has chosen not to do so. Why is that not being addressed in this Bill?

I want the witnesses to state categorically when a driver with between 20 mg and 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood was the cause of an accident. To just say it is a factor is not good enough for me.