Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the fact that there have been 100 fewer deaths on the roads. Many people are concerned that the points system is not effective. More and more people are getting points, but many Garda checkpoints are in areas where there is no danger. These checkpoints are on long stretches of roads, on motorways and so on. Has the Minister spoken to the Commissioner on the proportion of these checkpoints on these roads?

We all know of areas — the Minister has some in his constituency, as I do in mine — where Garda patrols hide behind bus shelters, such as at the Spawell, to catch motorists coming off the motorway, which is subject to a higher speed limit. It is madness and a waste of resources when one considers the speeding cars in housing estates, etc. It seems that the system is not being implemented at accident blackspots on dangerous bends and at other dangerous places and this is why the penalty points system is losing credibility.

Will the Minister call on the Garda Commissioner to review his deployment of Garda staff to make the system more effective? The system is concerned with road safety, as the Minister said. Should the penalty points system run in tandem with a broad strategy for road safety, such as good education and training programmes? Many believe the penalty points system is geared more towards generating revenue because of the manner in which points are being allocated for speeding cars. What discussions has the Minister had with the Garda Commissioner on this matter?

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