Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

We have long stretches of motorway, which is to be welcomed, but none of them has service stations or decent lay-bys. People need to make telephone calls while on a long journey and we should facilitate them in doing so safely.

The Labour Party supports this initiative but the absence of data in this area poses a problem. We do not know how many collisions or fatalities are caused by mobile telephone use while driving. If the Garda cannot provide data on enforcement levels, we will never be able to evaluate the effect of this provision.

I note that the Government is not opposing this Bill.

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