Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I disagree with many of the previous speakers. A driving licence is the most important document anybody can have in rural Ireland. We do not have the DART or Luas, nor a public bus transport service or taxis. The driving licence is the most vital document for many people in the west.

This Bill will set up another money racket for the Government, just like the driving theory test and the NCT. I welcome the review of the NCT because it is the greatest racket that was ever set up. The former grant of £1,000 allowed people to scrap cars over ten years old. The Government was surprised at the take-up of this scheme. There are not many bad cars on the road as a result, even though one may see bad drivers. This is probably part of the problem. If the Government is serious about restriction, why does it not introduce legislation to ensure no vehicle in the State can travel faster than 60 mph? I ask the Minister to reply. This is a reasonable request.

The Government has handled the situation in regard to driving tests badly. Many people working in the driving test section of the Department are upset. Why were extra staff not employed over recent years? Why was there a failure to reach agreement in negotiations with staff on overtime work to clear the driving test backlog? The reason is that the Government had it in mind all along to privatise the operation. I am surprised to hear the Labour Party calling for privatisation in this area. We should bear in mind that privatisation does not always work. The driving test service has deteriorated because the Minister and the Department did not provide the necessary staff and resources. The waiting list could have been tackled with sufficient application. However, it was in the Government's interest to sell this Bill and ensure the backlog was not tackled.

What will be the situation of smaller test centres such as those in Kilrush, Clifden and Buncrana? I was surprised a previous speaker from Donegal did not raise this issue. It seems smaller centres will be closed and incorporated into larger centres. Will the Civil Service status of those employees working in the Department as testers be protected? If they move to the private sector, will their pension rights be affected? These people have given loyal service to the State and are uncertain as to their future. The Government has lost a similar battle in regard to the situation of civil servants working in An Post.

I disagree with Deputy Naughten's comments on the driving test. If we are serious about road safety, the State should provide centres throughout the country where new drivers could learn and practise their driving skills before taking to the roads. In addition, driving skills should form part of the second level curriculum. We are all aware of the numbers of people killed on our roads daily. A car is a high-powered vehicle which is more dangerous than a gun when used in the wrong way or controlled by a person with inadequate driving skills.

Younger people have shown an admirable propensity for obeying the law. They have taken on the smoking ban and are generally aware of the dangers of driving after consuming alcohol. The younger generation has grown up with an awareness of road safety whereas older people are more likely to engage in speeding. However, where young people are involved in accidents, it is usually as a consequence of alcohol consumption. The Garda should have the authority to breath-test all motorists involved in a traffic accident and it should be permissible to use such evidence in court.

Young people should be educated to be aware of the responsibility involved in taking a vehicle onto the road. However, the Government and the insurance companies seem concerned only with extracting money from young drivers. The new driving test system will become another money racket. As many as 70% of applicants may fail the test because it will be in the interests of the private company running the tests to make as large a profit as possible. We have seen something similar in respect of the NCT service. A constituent whose vehicle failed the NCT test told me how he decided to test the NCT operators. He brought his car back a week later and it was passed even though no work had been done on it. The NCT system is all about money and the same will happen in regard to road safety.

I have a number of questions for the Ministers. If he cannot answer them today, I ask that his officials respond in writing. I have already tabled a number of parliamentary questions in respect of these matters. What legislation exists on the use of spotlights on cars and lorries? I have been raising this matter for years and cannot get a straight answer from the Department. There are motorists driving high-powered cars with high-powered lights and people have been killed because drivers do not dim these lights quickly enough.

There seem to be no clear legislative provisions on vehicle lighting. For example, I drove from Athlone to Dublin on Monday night. Ahead of me during this journey was a lorry bearing the name of a prominent business. The driver of this vehicle had the hazard lights on throughout the journey because there was no lighting on the back of the track. Moreover, I make this journey regularly and often encounter lorries which have different number plates front and back. Drivers who commit these types of offences should be apprehended.

In recent times, an Independent Member pledged loyalty to the Government on the basis of a promise from the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that action would be taken to rectify the incidence of large trucks throwing water on the roads. If one is a quarter of a mile away from such a vehicle, one can be dangerously dazzled by the water. What legislation exists to ensure such vehicles are properly equipped so that water does not splash out? Why is the law of the land not implemented in respect of such situations?

The law is always implemented in the case of the ordinary taxpayer travelling on the roads. In the United Kingdom, the police force admits that the reason it lost the confidence of the public was its traffic management operations. A speed camera cannot be installed in that country without it being clearly identified and signposted. The cameras installed on the N4 at Lucan work effectively because motorists approaching Dublin are aware of their existence and every vehicle slows down. The proper purpose of cameras is to slow down and manage traffic rather than to extract money from motorists.

Those responsible in the Department must recognise that road safety is not about collecting revenue for the Government but is a matter of saving lives, apprehending those who break the law and ensuring motorists can travel safely. We rarely see pedestrians being prosecuted for traffic offences. Every morning, 100 yards from this building, one sees people crossing the road when the light is green for motorists. A motorists who drives through a red light will be prosecuted but pedestrians must learn that they also have a responsibility. I have driven up the quays many times and have encountered pedestrians running across O'Connell Bridge when the light is green for motorists. I do not understand how more people are not killed because of this.

A garda should be posted at busy junctions in the city to apprehend and prosecute pedestrians who engage in this behaviour. The law should be equitably enforced for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. The current situation where the driver is disproportionately penalised is unacceptable. Motorists must pay for insurance and road tax because that is the legal requirement. The law of the land must be applied equally, however. If a driver breaks the law, he must be dealt with, as must a pedestrian or cyclist. I have not seen too many people being brought to the courts for jumping red lights.

If we are serious about road safety, we must recognise that the greatest breakers of the law are the Government and local authorities. The Minister travels throughout the country like me and other Members. The greatest scandal we see is traffic calming areas. Calming measures and special lighting are installed by local authorities on straight stretches of road to slow down traffic. About 95% of the time the lighting for those calming measures is out of order. I looked at a traffic calming area again as I was travelling last night. Some places can be dangerous when they are wet, and they can be miserable late at night. Coming into Bellavary, I wondered how more people are not killed there because of the traffic calming lights always being off. The same goes for the country in general.

If the Government is serious about this, then the road should be checked daily to ensure that the traffic calming lights work in the eventuality that somebody makes a complaint against the local authority. We cannot apply the law to drivers who break it if the State breaks the law and gets away with it. On my way to Ballinrobe I noticed a large pothole in a national secondary road. I deliberately did not ring the local authority about it for five or six days. Every single lorry and car moved out into the centre of the road to avoid it and it is a wonder somebody was not killed as a result. It took the local authority two weeks to fix it. Why should those responsible not be brought to the courts, prosecuted and fined €100 or €150 to show that they break the law when they do not carry out the duties and responsibilities given to them by the State? Among those duties are ensuring that our roads are safe and that the potholes and faulty lighting and whatever else are repaired.

Roadworks take place in local authority areas throughout the State. The other day, I was in a certain place where roadworks were taking place and the machine that was being used broke down. The authority was ready to tar the road, but for three days it was left untarred. That was dangerous and there was no signage to show people there were roadworks ahead. It is no wonder people are killed on the roads. Local authorities seem to think they can do what they want. Are there no health and safety practices in local authorities? Does nobody supervise workers to ensure they uphold the law, as should be the case in building sites? If a builder gets a contract, he must abide by health and safety regulations. Local authorities think they can break the law. That should not be the case. That situation should be dealt with by the Minister and the Government.

Young people should be educated how to drive. If we are serious about this matter, the time has come for us to provide centres throughout the State. We talk about road safety and young people driving and getting their licences, yet how do people learn to drive? How did we in this Chamber all learn to drive? Somebody took us out to a green area and tried to teach us how to drive. People get their brothers, sisters, mothers or fathers to teach them. There are no green areas left in this country now because there are all built on. There is no place for young people to learn how to drive. The time has come for the State to provide centres. With all the public money and community schemes that we have, we should investigate how we can set up centres to teach young people how to drive and to teach them the laws and regulations of the road. The time has come to do that.

There is FÁS and the various schemes. We have squandered money on different community groups. The money should instead be used to build fine centres. I see this in my constituency. There are more groups now than ever. If there is a public meeting about some issue, the local representative or Deputy is put at the top of the hall to be nailed by the public if there is a problem. When something is opened, all the chairmen, vice-chairmen and so on who are all in receipt of large salaries from the State are at the top table and the poor politicians are down the back. Only if the politician is needed to be belted and battered will he be put at the top table.

Whether we like it or not, the greatest killer in this country is drinking and driving. The abuse of alcohol in this country must be tackled. I know the Minister used to smoke and he did not like the smoking ban in public places. I am not a smoker but I know it took a long time for people to become accustomed to the ban, especially in rural Ireland. We must achieve the same level of tolerance towards drink as now applies to smoking. If we look at our streets, towns and villages, it is clear that drink driving is no longer a city problem. It is a national problem and we must deal with it.

Unlike previous speakers, I do not agree with the Bill because I know what it is. It is another racket to make money for the Government. In a few years' time, people will say how well they thought they did in their test and how they thought they had passed it. They might have been trained by instructors. They might think they had done everything right. Despite that, they could be failed for the most minor thing. The waiting lists might be reduced slightly, but I guarantee that the failure rate will increase because it will be in the Government's interests to ensure that people sit their test three or four times so that it can make money out of it. I do not agree with that.

Neither do I agree with the national car test. The NCT was needed 20 years ago when we had many bad cars on the road. Now everybody has a fairly good car. The NCT has served its time. It is being reviewed. The Minister should abandon it and forget about it. The NCT is cleaning up money from the taxpayer and its time has now come, although I would ask for its staff to be protected. What is happening with the situation?

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