Ms Paula Hilman:

We would have to work through the legislative issues and then through the data protection impact assessment, DPIA. It is being looked at and it is something that needs to be considered. To refer back to our responsibility, Superintendent Murphy oversees the fleet. We have issued unmarked Garda vehicles. A balance needs to be struck between the number of marked and unmarked cars in terms of how visible the Garda presence is. I am not being defensive here but when people see the liveried car in the distance, they stop whatever they are doing but the unmarked car allows us those detections. We have that balance in our fleet. There are certainly opportunities for technology in this area.

Deputy O'Rourke has left, but I can combine two questions. Yes, deterrence is enormously important. We were asked who to aim it at. There are gender differences biologically and physiologically. Gay Byrne and I spoke about it a number of times. One of those differences is that the male brain does not develop in the frontal lobes to decrease risk taking. Risk taking is actually part of human survival and men continue to take more risk to a later age than women do. Men make up more than 80% of violent deaths and so we target it. How do we target? Risk taking is an inherent behaviour; perhaps that will change in 1,000 years. However, at the moment that is physiologically neural chemistry and neural biological. Therefore, we aim it at those people.

The Deputy asked about cocaine. I believe there has been an increase in cocaine use. In fact, I know it from coroners. Without being facetious, I have been tracking the economy of Ireland since the 1980s. When the economy is up, cocaine use is up. When the economy is down, cocaine use is down. Cocaine and crack cocaine are now much stronger - incredibly so. That leads to increased risk behaviour such as speeding and not wearing seatbelts, so that may be another factor.

The Cathaoirleach spoke about when he was slightly younger, 20 years ago. This is not in any way to diminish it but in 1980 my recollection is the population of Ireland was 3.5 million. We now have a population of 5.3 million which means we will see an increase in the number of deaths. That does not mean we do not go for Vision Zero, but some of the increase in number may simply be due to demographics.

I thank the Deputy for asking about drugs and medications. I mentioned the citizens' assembly because one of the things I will be talking about at it is drugs. Could someone test positive at the side of road after taking an over-the-counter or prescribed medication? The answer is "Yes". As with alcohol someone could be under the limit. People might be taking Valium or a sleeping tablet legitimately, they will be in the bloodstream and they could test positive at a roadside test. However, unless it is one of the drugs where there is a limit, the person must have impairment. By the way, for medicinal cannabis or medical cannabis, we have an exemption certificate. Could someone be taking a painkiller which has a codeine? Yes. This is the message I am trying to get across.

People say they are not going to stop taking things just because they could be prosecuted. Unfortunately, on the radio somebody said if you take your medications, you could end up being prosecuted. No, if they are taking them in accordance with what they should be and are not impaired, they will not be prosecuted. I urge people to keep taking their medications as prescribed by their doctors or as advised by their pharmacists. We all know ourselves when we change our medications or the dose, we are not quite up to it. Healthy driving is also important. I hope this covers some of the Deputy's concerns.