Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

For one reason or other, it is not happening. The same cannot be allowed to happen with mobile telephone use and Fine Gael is taking the right course of action in presenting this Bill. The delay in delivering on the promise to ban the use of mobile telephones has been incredible. On 9 October 2002 the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, told the Dáil that his Department was urgently examining the implications of legal advice from the Attorney General, yet seven months later the urgency was so great he gave the exact same reply to me when I raised the issue with him.

In March 2004, the then Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy McDaid, said he was working on a legislative framework to address the overall regulatory questions arising from the development of in-car technologies, which he hoped to deal with in the next road traffic Bill.

In September 2004, the road safety strategy was published with a clear commitment to provide a legal basis for the control of mobile telephone use while driving. However, the following February, the then Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Callely, could only give the same information to the House as Deputy McDaid had the previous year. We are still waiting for that Bill.

There was hope in February of this year when the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, indicated that the necessary preparations had been made to provide for the regulation of in-vehicle information and communications technologies. However, at the last Question Time he drew back, saying that he would provide such legislation in the road traffic Bill but only if the question of how to legislate effectively and appropriately for mobile telephones had been finalised within that timeframe.

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