Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

It is timely, opportune and appropriate that we are discussing this motion and I thank Deputy Olivia Mitchell for bringing it forward. I hope that Members will forgive me for confining my remarks to the disturbing number of fatal accidents experienced recently in my county. Tragically, the people of County Donegal have become accustomed to waking up on Saturday and Sunday mornings to news reports of serious and often fatal accidents in different parts of the county involving young people in cars or pedestrians or cyclists.

An examination of the past year will reveal a litany of terrible accidents. Most recently, 8 and 9 October was a black weekend for County Donegal, with the tragic deaths of five young people, most of whom were teenagers, on the Inishowen peninsula. Not long before that, on a Sunday afternoon in September, three people lost their lives in a road accident near Ballintra in the south of the county, of whom one was a close friend of mine.

To date this year, 26 people in County Donegal have lost their lives in road accidents. In 2004, the figure was 30. With two months left of this year, there is no guarantee that we will not reach last year's disastrous levels. How can one explain that almost 10% of road fatalities in this country occur in County Donegal? Serious questions need to be answered as to why the level of road deaths is so high in a county which accounts for 3.5% of the total population. Every part of the county has been affected by this waste of young lives. Families and communities have been shocked and traumatised by the needless loss of lives.

County Donegal's Border location is a contributing factor to the slaughter on its roads. Some reckless drivers from Northern Ireland cross the Border and indulge in speeding without fear of penalties for infringements of safety regulations and the same is probably true for those who go from the Republic to Northern Ireland. Harmonisation of policy on both sides of the Border is of critical importance. I concur with the comments made by my colleague, Deputy Gay Mitchell, on this matter. A discrepancy exists between kilometres on this side and miles on the other and points given in Northern Ireland are not recorded in the South.

Gardaí in the county are doing their best with limited resources but they cannot counteract by themselves the culture of living dangerously which seems to have convinced many young people that they are invincible. The prevalence of mobile telephones means that young people have a sophisticated communications system at their disposal to avoid gardaí and engage in handbrake turns and doughnuts with virtual impunity. Gardaí need the support and help of the entire community. Public co-operation is crucial in ending the epidemic of road deaths in Donegal.

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