Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

The ever-increasing number of fatalities on our roads, the number of accidents and the large number of people suffering serious injury as a result of those accidents rightly concern everyone in this House. No Member or political party should be engaged in trying to score political points on the back of people's suffering. However, criticism of the delay in introducing necessary legislation is valid. This is a long-awaited Bill, which the House should have dealt with well before now. It contains many provisions, which the Green Party supports. We have concerns, as already expressed by other Opposition speakers that some of the difficulties with existing road safety legislation may be repeated in many of the new provisions here.

We live in a difficult time where bad existing legislation is being challenged and members of the Judiciary on the basis of sound judicial principles are making decisions on drink-driving and speeding charges resulting in many cases brought by the Garda being struck out. Many of the hoped for effects of people not driving with excessive speed or with any alcohol are being totally undermined on foot of these decisions. This places a greater challenge on us as legislators to come up with the right type of legislation and not only words in a Bill that will make us feel better about the nature of the problem that needs to be resolved. There must also be confidence that this legislation when enacted can be enforced, both in terms of the resources necessary to ensure the Garda can bring charges and that subsequently when any actions are brought before the courts they can be prosecuted on the basis of sound judicial and constitutional principles. Unfortunately doubts remain in this regard.

The Bill introducing several new measures will be largely unopposed in this House and the Green Party will facilitate its passage. We will use the opportunity on Second, Committee and Report Stages to ask the Government to be more forthcoming about its confidence over how judicable the measures proposed are and whether the legislation can fill the many gaps that remain. One source of potential difficulty relates to the proposals on drink driving and the creation of distinctions between people on lower and higher blood-alcohol levels as well as the right to opt for on-the-spot fines and bans rather than going to court. Owing to the potential difficulties, there could be a role for the Council of State in ensuring the Act is tested before it is challenged by a citizen.

The Green Party's main criticism is the delay in introducing several of these measures including, for instance, the delay in random breath testing and the ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving. Over the years the Government has pointed to difficulties in introducing these measures. While the Minister's speech made no mention of it, it might be forthcoming in later presentations as to why what was difficult before is now possible. If difficulties still exist, what are they and how can they be overcome? The length of these delays has been unacceptable. The delay for random breath testing has been six years. It was first mentioned by Deputy Brennan when he was Minister for Transport. The first mention of a ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones was made by the former Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Mr. Bobby Molloy, before the last general election. After nine years in office, the Government parties should ask the reasons for such delay and prevarication. Have such delay and prevarication resulted in scenes on our roads that could have been avoided?

Many people have felt frustration at the driver-testing system. It must be admitted that the Government seems to be addressing the problem or at least getting exercised about it. The recent proposals made by the Minister and the agreement with the Department and the unions on driver testing might result in what has been an intractable problem emerging from the tunnel. The Government seems to be putting regulation of driving instructors on the long finger. It will not start until July 2007 and will be completed by 2008. As this is June 2006 and we will have a general election in the interim, I do not know why the Government believes it will take so long to implement.

As mentioned by other speakers, a major omission from the Bill is the lack of provision for drug testing of drivers. I have yet to hear an explanation from the Minister as to whether this relates to concern about the lack of appropriate technology or whether there are constitutional issues concerning a difference between testing for drugs and for alcohol. If there are difficulties it would be more honest for the Minister to take them to the floor of the House so we could collectively try to address them. Otherwise it will represent a huge lacuna in legislation we pass this week.

The disagreement between the Departments of Transport, and Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the issue of speed cameras and the involvement of the private sector has been unacceptable. As a result the idea has yet to come to fruition. The Committee of Public Accounts, of which Deputy Fleming is a member, has considered the practice of existing policy in this area. Currently someone challenging a speed conviction through the courts has a 90% chance of success in overturning any penalty imposed. Especially given the involvement of the private sector, the new proposals do not give me confidence that this is likely to change.

Another omission relates to the arbitrary way local authorities determine speed limits in their jurisdictions. There is a lack of consistency. We have similar types of road with different speed limits depending on the local authority area. People are asked to speed up and slow down on small stretches of road. While that was an innovation of a previous Road Traffic Act, the opportunity of seeing how that system has worked or failed in different parts of the country should have been addressed in this Bill. This may yet change on Committee and Report Stages. I would have liked the Minister to have made positive proposals in this area.

The biggest fear is that of legal challenges. As a representative from Cork, I am particularly concerned that drink driving charges were thrown out by Cork District Court. The judge in question, as the person with knowledge and experience, was entitled to and probably justified in making the decision but it was a particularly unfortunate decision given that road deaths in Cork city and county were higher than the national average in the past year. When people are walking away from a court, with drink driving cases brought by the Garda not being tested, I fear the Bill will not address our ongoing concerns.

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