Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Olivia Mitchell for bringing forward this important Bill. I thank the Minister for begrudgingly accepting it. It is a step forward and the media recognises that proper legislation is necessary and long overdue. The issue of mobile phone usage when driving cannot be over-emphasised. Even when a person is in a car and using a hands-free mobile phone, it can be somewhat distracting. I make no apology for stating that I have often gone wrong in travelling to a place as a result of using the hands-free mobile phone.

The worst case of all is seeing a driver of a 40 ft. lorry on a corner in some town with a phone to his or her ear. It sickens me to see this. A number of elderly people are killed by lorries in towns such as Castleblaney, and this may arise because of a person using a mobile phone instead of watching a mirror, where there is one. This is where we must bring about change. It costs very little to have a hands-free mobile phone kit and we must ensure everyone has one. I see no reason why penalty points cannot be applied to the licence of somebody found guilty of misusing a phone while driving.

I have a good relationship with the gardaí in my home county but I was annoyed this morning when I heard one of them on local radio discussing the implementation of the new penalty point offences. It was stated that gardaí would be more visible. Taking the example of Emyvale Garda station, which the Minister of State knows very well, and other stations which only have a couple of gardaí altogether, the possibility of the Garda Síochána being more visible is very slim unless manpower is increased or we bring about a scenario where civilians do the work that gardaí now do. Civilians are well capable of doing it. We can then discuss visibility.

The need for trained drivers has also been touched on. I pay tribute to my colleagues Deputies Naughten and Coveney who, many years ago, brought forward a proposal to train young drivers from transition year in school so that they would qualify for a discount from insurance companies. The delay before doing driving tests has been mentioned and cannot be over-emphasised. People are losing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of euro because of it.

There is also a need for genuine cross-Border structures to ensure motorists North and South receive equal treatment. I have travelled to DáiI Éireann on the M1 since it opened. Of every four cars that overtake me as I drive at the maximum speed limit I can guarantee that three will be Northern Irish, British or foreign-registered. We must deal with that situation proactively.

The quality of roads has already been mentioned. We rightly spend billions of euro on roads but the design, in some cases, absolutely stinks. On the approach to Monaghan town from Emyvale, a new roundabout has been built right on the doorstep of an existing company. That company must have been a considerable distance from the junction before it was built but now it is right on top of it. If one lorry stops at the door into the business the roundabout is jammed and the situation there will eventually result in a death. In Carrickmacross a similar roundabout allows no leeway for a driver to slip off into traffic; he must stop and, in doing so, stop all other traffic.

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