Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I support the points made by Deputies Shortall and Olivia Mitchell. The final point made by Deputy Shortall is important. According to the Bill, the authority's functions include centrally managing the licensing system and, as a secondary responsibility, the information systems in respect of road safety, the public campaigns and so on. Section 7 of the Bill contains the concept of road safety programmes. Do such programmes constitute the road safety strategy? If so, in addition to conducting publicity campaigns or producing advisory notes, will this authority have the requisite authority, presumably with the Minister's agreement, to inform bodies such as the National Roads Authority or whatever, that they are obliged to amend their strategies to meet the criteria of our central strategy? There appears to be a lack of clarity as to the authority's functions. It has a road safety programme function as well as its original functions. I agree with Deputy's Shortall's concluding comments. If this authority has the power to set the road safety strategy, this must be made clear publically and it must be provided with the powers required to enforce it.

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