Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

This is a very pressing national issue and it is one of the two main contributing factors to road fatalities. There is cross-party agreement that this problem needs to be tackled and many people are making a sincere effort to grapple with it. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport will be dealing with this issue next week and a number of people have been invited to speak on the subject. The Minister has also agreed to meet the committee in a few weeks' time.

The Minister has referred to and quoted his legal advice from time to time. Is he prepared to make this legal advice available to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport because it seems to be the main stumbling block? The political will exists, as does the social acceptance of the need to do something about drink driving and, by and large, the media would be supportive of such action. The main stumbling block is the legality of the action or the legal pitfalls involved. If these have been examined and outlined to the Minister by the Office of the Attorney General, I ask that as a contribution to the debate, he would make that legal advice available to the committee for its meeting tomorrow week because it would be helpful to the national debate.

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