Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach did not answer the question. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform said there is no problem with mandatory drug testing for prisoners, but the Minister for Transport said there are legal impediments to mandatory breath testing. Will the Taoiseach explain what they are? Will this issue be dealt with in the amendments to the regulations he mentioned? Does he intend to introduce mandatory breath testing and, if so, when?

What has the Minister for Transport done about the backlog of 100,000 young drivers waiting for driving tests? The wait is costing them €50 million a year extra in increased insurance. Nothing has been done about the banning of mobile phones while driving. I have seen many drivers on their phones while driving in town centres, some of them truck drivers, and they do not seem to have hands-free sets. Nothing has been done about basic training for motorcyclists. Only 34 extra gardaí have been allocated for traffic corps duties this year and the corps is not a dedicated unit but is used for other purposes. We have the second worst record in Europe for drink driving checks.

Tackling road safety needs strong political will and leadership. President Chirac of France has taken a personal initiative in this regard and road deaths there have reduced because of the perception of individual drivers that the state is taking a real interest in seeing that drivers drive safely. As Ministers do not appear to be prepared to do so, is the Taoiseach prepared to take a personal initiative and lead this charge so that we will not have tragic and unfortunate circumstances weekend after weekend on Irish roads?

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