Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

One of the main points I made on Second Stage was that, while I welcome the authority and so on, I did not know what it would do because there was no clear indication of its role, function and so on. There was much about what the Minister may do in future. While he has indicated what is in his head, it may be different from what is in the legislation. The Minister's intent and what is in the legislation may be two different things. I hope the legislation will survive the Minister.

As Deputy Shortall said, the purpose of the legislation is to set up a mechanism whereby we will have a road safety strategy, based on firm information and so on. For the provision of any kind of programme to be at the discretion or whim of the Minister is not satisfactory.

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