Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is value in that. There is also value in the use of cameras and technology more generally and to a greater degree than is currently the case. Technology is moving very fast. For example, in my area, which the Minister knows well, in suburban estates and on roads we have for years been building ramps which damage the fabric of cars and slow people down. If we had technology within people's cars so they enter an estate or a particular area and some kind of technology system forces the car to slow down to that 30 km/h limit, we could save an awful lot of money on people having to get their lights reset before going to the NCT and save on maintaining these awful ramps all over the place. Equally, those who are not speeding would not be punished. Sooner rather than later, I would like to see investigation of how much we can have telemetry in cars which means that, as a driver enters a town or village, the car is brought to a slower speed with technology, although it should not be a knee-jerk reaction. I know not every car is the same age and it would take a while to do, but I would like to see those kinds of systems in place. People generally react well when they know they are being watched and I think it would make a lot of sense. There could be more cameras in place and the local authorities, or whoever would make the money out of it, could stop spending money on ramps, start collecting a few fines from those who were not complying, and let everybody else get on with their existence.

With regard to M50 demand management, there have been many Ministers for Transport who have been from Dublin, not just the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and Seamus Brennan, but also Shane Ross and the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar. When Deputy Varadkar was Minister, the reference to demand management on the M50 was more about multiple tolling. Will the Minister confirm that demand management in this context is much more about speed, signage and so on, and not multiple tolling? I know that at one stage, before TII, the National Roads Authority, NRA, was suggesting that if drivers got on at Sandyford and got off at Cherrywood, they would have to pay €10, but if they got on at the airport and got off at Cherrywood, they would not be charged because the NRA did not want that first kind of traffic on the roads. The difficulty is that if those people are taken off the M50, they are rat-running through residential roads in Foxrock, Sandyford and such areas. The Minister might confirm there is no proposal in this legislation for road pricing within the demand management context of what is being referred to.