Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

The Minister referred to 2006 but can he tell us whether the authority will be established early in that year? We are all conscious, particularly at this time of the year, of carnage on the roads and in recent weeks there have been a high number of road deaths.

In bringing all the bodies together, we must be conscious of the need to target different types of road accidents. In that context, the Minister has spoken in the past of a dedicated traffic corps. Does he see that as part of the bringing together of various road safety bodies? Will the road safety authority have any role in the proposed dedicated traffic corps?

There is more traffic on the roads and people are more stressed as a result. How does the Minister see the authority functioning? How many people does he envisage will be on the board, how often will it meet and to whom will it report directly? Will it be a separate body and will Deputies be able to ask questions of the Minister relating to the authority?

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