Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The content of much of the Taoiseach's reply is somewhat akin to what he said to Deputy Gay Mitchell in one of his more famous outbursts some years ago.

Having missed one flight from Dublin Airport last week and having had to cancel another due to chaos at the airport and in travelling approximately 1,000 km last week I came across one Garda check point. I wish to deal with the Taoiseach's comment in regard to speed cameras being extended throughout the country. It is two years since Deputy Naughten was informed that there were only three speed cameras in the whole of Ireland, five years after the Government promised to have them installed. Two years ago, these three speed cameras were being rotated around 20 speed camera boxes. In reply to a recent question tabled by Deputy Olivia Mitchell, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform admitted that nine of those 20 speed camera boxes are out of action. He went on to say that it takes between two and eight months to repair a speed camera box. Given what the Minister for Finance said yesterday that €100 billion would be spent on infrastructure over the next 20 years, North and South, it is incredible that it takes between two and eight months to repair a wooden box on top of a pole. Seven years on there are three speed cameras but only half the number of boxes that are operable and it takes eight months to repair one of those. It is no wonder that making appeals to the mentality of drivers is in vain given the increasing speed on many of our roads. If the Taoiseach has occasion to travel the roads I invite him to look at what is happening in regard to motor cyclists in particular. It is impossible to see them coming from behind given that they are travelling at speeds of well over 100 mph. It is a shame the Government is not in a position to apply speed camera boxes and speed cameras to implement the law of the land that he promised would be implemented seven years ago.

See this speech in context