Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Nobody wants to see lives lost. The Minister will probably try to ban contact sports in situations where people end up paralysed owing to freak accidents. The Road Safety Authority, RSA, has become loaded. Has the committee heard submissions from the Irish Road Haulage Association or similar organisations?

It has to be acknowledged that following on from the provision of additional resources for An Garda Síochána, it has become more competent in enforcing road traffic legislation. As I said, if existing legislation was enforced better, we would have better results. In sport, a player is issued with a yellow card and then a red card. If what is provided for in this legislation comes into force, people's lives will be ruined. Under current legislation, they are given a second chance, but under this legislation, despite having committed only a minute offence, they will be banned from driving. By way of example, a girl interviewed in the public survey mentioned how she had consumed a moderate amount of alcohol on a night out but because of her physique when she was stopped on the roadside the following morning and tested she was over the limit. However, by the time she had reached the Garda station and been retested, she was okay and got away with a fine. She said she had learned her lesson. There are many people who will find themselves in a similar position. We need to give people a chance and not destroy their lives.

We should also not seek to destroy the lives of people living in rural areas. Mental health is a big issue in the context of this legislation, particularly for those living in isolated areas. I do not like going on and on like a broken record, but I would like to give an example to show how this legislation will impact on such individuals. A general practitioner told me that when he and his wife were out walking, they would often have been passed along the way by a person they knew driving to the local pub and that since the introduction of the drink driving limits, he no longer went to the pub and that when they passed his house, they would see piles of cans and so on stacking up at the side. When one is drinking in a pub, one is doing so in a controlled environment. People who live in isolated areas were doing so, but now they are drinking at home with no control over the level of alcohol they are consuming. This may be good in the context of road safety, but it will lead to a lack of engagement with neighbours and others and isolation. What about these lives? The impact of this legislation on the lives of such individuals will be huge.

The Minister referred to crashes in which alcohol was a factor. Does he have data for the roadworthiness of the vehicles involved or the condition of the roads? When a person is found to be over the limit, is the condition of a vehicle also taken into account in the even of an accident? In other words, are the brakes and tyres examined? All of these things come into play when an accident occurs, but they are being pushed aside for the Minister's gain in having this legislation enacted quickly. He needs to take on board the points we are making. On the surveys he mentioned which were carried out by the RSA, what questions were put to those surveyed and when were they put to them? If I were to ask people in my area tomorrow morning if they were happy with the drink driving laws, they might say yes.

What way were questions put to people? Are they in favour of drink-driving? No one is in favour of drunk-driving. As for where Deputy Troy is coming from, those who go beyond the one or two drinks maybe need to be penalised more to teach them a lesson. I ask that those people be given the yellow card as we go ahead.