Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 71 together.

I refer the Deputies to my reply to Question No. 3. Work on establishing the road safety authority is well advanced in my Department. It was originally intended that the new body would be called the driver testing and standards authority and would deliver the driver licensing and driver testing service only. The Government decided in July to assign a range of additional road safety functions to the new body, thereby creating the road safety authority. The authority will be tasked with playing a lead role in the area of road safety.

The authority's functions will include those currently undertaken by the Department in respect of driver testing, driver licensing, vehicle standards, certain functions relating to the road haulage industry, the road safety functions currently undertaken by the National Safety Council and certain functions relating to accident research and statistics being undertaken by the National Roads Authority. The authority will also have responsibility for the regulation of driving instruction, the introduction of compulsory basic training for motorcycles and the introduction of vocational training for professional drivers in the transport industry.

The Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 has completed Second Stage in the Dáil. Amendments to the Bill are being drafted to give effect to the wider functions being assigned to the authority and it is to be renamed the road safety authority Bill 2004.

I anticipate that the Bill will become law by the middle of 2006, following which the authority will be established on a statutory footing. The Bill provides for a board to oversee and direct the work of the authority that will comprise a chairperson and not less than six and not more than 11 ordinary members. Pending the establishment of the authority, I propose to appoint an interim board to facilitate the transitional phase of its establishment.

A project team is in place in my Department to progress the establishment of the authority. Issues relating to staffing, the organisational structure and the financial arrangements for the new authority are being dealt with by the project team in consultation with the staff associations and the Department of Finance.

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