Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

Much is revealed about the carnage on our roads by the fact that the figures included in this motion when Fine Gael issued notice of it last Friday are already out of date. Sadly, the numbers of fatalities on our roads are increasing daily and currently stand at 328 this year.

This exercise is not about apportioning blame but should be about taking responsibility for a problem that has robbed us of 2,239 lives in the past six years. The Government is not to blame for these deaths. There are any number of causes for serious accidents, including driver behaviour and error, vehicle standards and driving conditions. However, the Government is charged with addressing these causes and it is time it is held to account for its failure to do so.

Responsibility for road safety and, in particular, the implementation of the road safety strategy stretches across the Departments of Transport, Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Health and Children, yet there is little evidence that the issue is being taken seriously by the four relevant Ministers. It is disappointing that none of those senior Ministers bothered to attend tonight's debate.

The truth is that there is a lethargy at the heart of Government, where road safety is quite often seen as someone else's problem, reform happens whenever there is time to get around to it and the issue is pushed to the back of the political and legislative agenda. We are 13 months into the current road safety strategy, which has a further 13 months left to run. In the absence of an annual review, I have been examining how each target is being met. While there have been some welcome initiatives and I welcome in particular the establishment of a Garda traffic corps, although delays are being experienced in bringing that to its full complement, by and large the strategy is behind schedule. I have identified at least 20 road safety measures which the Government has yet to implement or for which there are no obvious dates for completion. Of course, the Government will say that 13 months remain before they must provide many of these items but the fact that many proposals are not even listed in the Government's indicative legislative programme suggests they will not be met.

With regard to drink driving, no legislation has been introduced for random breath testing, despite the promises made some years ago by the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, and other undertakings made at the commencement of the road safety strategy to introduce measures. The current Minister for Transport cites constitutional difficulties with this measure.

Equally, there has been no increase in the charges applying under section 22 of the Road Traffic Act 1994. This section provides for a charge to be applied against convicted drink drivers as a deterrent and to meet the cost of investigating their offences. Currently the fine stands at a mere €95 and, while it was to be increased to €250 under the current road safety strategy, the amount has not changed since the commencement of the Act.

The expansion of the penalty points system has been stalled by the failure to put in place the necessary information technology. The latest news is that the system may be ready in April but it is becoming more difficult to believe the Government's target dates. More than three years after the introduction of penalty points, only five of the 69 promised offences are included.

There appears to be little or no progress on the mutual recognition of penalty points between the South and the North and Great Britain. Drivers on both sides of the border can drive with impunity as far as penalty points are concerned. The Minister of State, Deputy Callely, need only travel along the M1 to see many cars with yellow registration plates driving at speed south of the Border. This is the most glaring example of putting matters on the long finger I have seen for some years and it amounts to political negligence.

In terms of enforcement, no legislation has been published on the control of mobile phone use by drivers, despite many promises. There has yet to be a response to EU Directive 2003/20/EC, which requires that seatbelts be worn in vehicles in which they are fitted, including school buses. The EU Convention on Driving Disqualifications has not been implemented nor, as was suggested in the strategy, has a bilateral agreement been entered into with the UK on the matter.

The Minister confirmed in his reply to a recent parliamentary question that compulsory initial practical training for motorcyclists will not be introduced until the road safety authority is established. However, this authority will not be established until the Minister produces amendments to a different Bill. We will have to await the passing of that Bill in both Houses before he begins to address this area.

There are no regulations with regard to requiring motorcyclists with provisional licenses to display L-plates, which means the law banning learner motorcyclists from carrying pillion passengers cannot be properly enforced.

There has been no move towards changing the licensing regime for learner drivers. The Minister has indicated this will not happen until after the current average waiting time of 40 weeks per driving test centre is significantly reduced. Unfortunately, the Minister's best estimate for this to happen is 18 months to two years. Again, an undue delay will occur before attention is paid to the content of driving tests.

A new rules of the road booklet has not yet been introduced. The current booklet is approximately ten years old.

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