Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I am glad to speak on this Bill, parts of which I welcome. I called for mandatory alcohol testing in October and November 2005 and I asked that the collective responsibility of the Government be exercised on the killing fields which are our roads, but this Bill does not go far enough.

Other than alcohol, there is no testing for drugs. I spoke about this in the Dáil on a number of occasions and I will do so again. Everyone involved in a road traffic accident needs to be breathalysed. I have sought this in the Dáil and I seek it again, especially for those involved in fatal or serious road traffic accidents. As matters stand, a driver can walk away without being breathalysed. I abhor the terrible consequences of drink driving and know the terrible effects the loss of a loved one through a drunken driver can have on a family. It is scandalous that this Bill does not address this matter and I demand that it be changed to ensure that any driver involved in a serious road traffic accident, especially where someone is killed, is breathalysed for alcohol and tested for drugs.

The Bill also does not address the serious failure of any public authority to take responsibility for public safety, including road accidents due to road conditions for which no one is apparently responsible. Neither does the Bill address the gross underestimation in serious and fatal road traffic accidents caused mainly by road conditions. I repeat my previous call for an audit of all road traffic accidents because I believe that the number of accidents attributed solely or mainly to road conditions is grossly underestimated.

There should be a consideration for those provisional licence holders in their sunset years who have been driving for a long number of years. Under the restricted category, these people need a driving licence to go to a church or a shop to overcome the isolation in which they live. I make a case for those people who should be facilitated in some way in this Bill and perhaps the Minister will examine this. There is talk of restricting the licences of learner drivers. Why not extend this to thousands of older people? Surely their driving could be confined to daylight hours and to a certain area of ten or even five miles.

I have been approached by many older people who are morbidly concerned about the new changes in the regulation of the provisional licence system which, incidentally, I welcome. These older people have been driving without incident for 40 years. They more than likely bought their licence at a time when they could do so and they only travel limited distances. They feel that they are being unfairly discriminated against by these changes. They want a concession equivalent to young people waiting for a driving test who must undergo mandatory training and spend an interval before they can apply for the test to get their licence. Otherwise these older people, who are in their mid-60s or mid-70s and who live in remote rural locations will not be able to go to the shops or the church on a Sunday. That is all they require their driving licence for. They do not drink. They are unable to take the test because they say it is too complicated. There is no public transport system in those rural areas. They would settle for a limited test or a compulsory training programme. Their lives will not be worth living if the use of the car is taken from them or, in other words, if this essential lifeline is taken from them. Will the Minister consider those in such a position?

Driver education in our schools is necessary. It is provided in other jurisdictions. It is not provided in this country and it certainly should be.

Helicopter emergency medical services are an essential part of any programme to save lives. Helicopter emergency medical services are provided in every EU state except this country and the North. We hold that dubious distinction. There was a cross-Border study which showed that such a service would be feasible if done jointly by the two jurisdictions.

Ring-fencing fines to the particular county in which those offences took place might help people understand that, if they are fined, the money paid will go towards the upkeep of the roads which might prevent accidents.

I referred to the difficulty with this Bill that it does not address the fact that a person involved in fatal road traffic accident is not breathalysed. On a number of occasions I raised in the Dáil the case of Stephen Gray who was killed tragically when he was mown down by a driver who was never tested, even though that driver was seen in a number of public houses and at a nightclub. As a result, there is a petition, which has well over 20,000 signatures at this stage, demanding that the Minister change the law to ensure that anybody involved in a serious or fatal road traffic accident is breathalysed. That change in the law should definitely be made.

I am also concerned that the Bill does not address the problem of people driving having taken drugs other than alcohol. Alcohol is the most common drug of abuse and its use has increased by 41% in the past ten years. I abhor the terrible consequences of drink driving and I know the effects of premature death.

Gardaí, no more than in the case of breathalysing, cannot test someone for drugs unless they have some reason to do so, for example, finding drugs in the car. It is essential that there would be mandatory testing for drugs as well, and random drug testing. Just as there can be a road block for breathalyser testing, surely the same can be done for drugs. While I realise it is more problematic and impractical, with modern technology such a provision should be in place.

I am well aware that there are people who are high on drugs driving around our cities and towns and even around rural areas. Ecstasy tablets, which are in common use and are freely available at €5 each, are reputed to give a high equivalent to eight or ten pints of beer, yet there is no way one can detect whether a person is high on ecstasy tablets. There are many young people on provisional licences with high motor insurance costs who are happier to use ecstasy tablets, at €5, on their nights out instead of drinking alcohol, which is expensive for them. With no alcohol in their blood, they have no fear of the breathalyser or of being caught.

Random mandatory drug testing, as well as more gardaí to increase detection, would help. Leaving large areas of 20 miles without a garda encourages more drug pushing in rural areas. The lack of a dedicated drugs task force in Mayo as well as the lack of education of parents, insufficient gardaí and a failure to recognise the growing problem in rural areas is taking its toll. The Garda is doing good work with its education programmes but, without additional resources, it cannot do enough.

I estimate that 50% of children in Mayo secondary schools who are regular drug users do not seem to be aware of the seriousness and the legal consequences of a drug habit. The increasing drug problem in rural areas is inversely proportional to the withdrawal of gardaí from rural areas. Even the stigma of getting caught is no longer a deterrent. Drug abuse is a particular danger on our roads, especially among the group aged 20 to 25 who drive regularly under the influence of drugs and who have little chance of getting caught. This Bill is no consolation to anyone who is concerned about that problem because the Garda has no reason to arrest anyone in the absence of a smell of alcohol unless drugs are found in a car. Smoking cannabis and using cocaine while driving is commonplace and the Bill will not address that problem.

I am concerned by instances where young people have been killed on our roads and no one is held accountable. Aisling Gallagher, who was killed in Mayo, and Sinéad McDaid, who was killed in Donegal, died directly as a result of road traffic accidents caused by the road conditions. While the same may be said of the Kentstown bus accident, those two young girls in particular were killed through no fault of their own. Their cars were in perfect order, they were not speeding and they were breaking no laws. Their cars were perfectly roadworthy in each case, yet they were killed. No one is answerable in such situations. There is a protocol between the Garda and the Health and Safety Authority but, unfortunately, to date no one has been held responsible. An investigation is proceeding in the case of Aisling Gallagher while a Garda investigation has been reopened in the case of Sinéad McDaid.

See this speech in context