Shane McEntee (Meath, Fine Gael)

I have been a Member for 15 months and road deaths have been an issue in this House every week since I was elected. I have compiled a list of the names and addresses of 174 people who died on the roads since 1 January, from a two year old child to a 95 year old man. This Bill should lead to a reduction in the road deaths in every parish, which affect everybody. I assure Mr. Gay Byrne that the Opposition has no intention of holding up this Bill. We must ensure that every aspect of this Bill is implemented so that this country is no longer one where 11 people per 100,000 die on the roads, compared to the European average of six people per 100,000. People will no longer be six times more likely to die if they travel by motorbike in this country compared to any other country. The Opposition will hold people responsible if the measures discussed are not implemented immediately.

We must address driver testing, speeding, drink driving and the quality of our roads. Last week a breakthrough was made. The testing of our young people has been a shambles over the past number of years because people did not wish to address the situation. Young people have no respect because of the manner in which they have been treated. A 52-week wait is unacceptable because they are charged extra by their insurance company in the meantime. Addressing this will garner respect from young people.

I do not know when 40,000 tests will be outsourced. An additional 10,000 applications were added to the waiting list last year. It is essential that the Minister works with these people seven days a week so that every young person can be tested within a six-week period. Fine Gael calls for a place where people can learn to drive under proper instruction, as is the case in Hong Kong. Inexperienced drivers would not have to learn on busy roads. If we do not see a reduction in waiting times, someone will have to answer.

A speeding blitz has taken place over the past few bank holiday weekends. Despite this and the increase in the number of penalty points for certain offences, the number of people killed has not decreased. Penalty points are being picked up where one drives a little above the limit. Every time one drives on a dual carriageway, someone is waiting around the corner with a speed gun. Where I live, on narrow roads where only one car can fit and the speed limit is only 80 km/h, one meets dangerous drivers. The people on this list of victims were killed in such places, on minor roads where no traffic corps operates and proper speed limits are not enforced. We have discussed getting planning permission from county councils to ensure proper speed limits. That will cost money.

Some 33 years ago yesterday, at 16 years of age, I witnessed a two-year old child being killed while crossing the road in Bettystown. The speed limit on that road is the same now as it was then and there are no ramps. That child has not been forgotten by her parents. We must have traffic calming measures outside our schools and the traffic corps in places beyond the edges of our cities.

It is a liability to drive in the country at weekends. There are crazy drivers on our roads, on motorbikes and in cars, young and old people trying to make up time on country roads at weekends. Until we address this, the list of victims will continue to grow. We must ensure speed limits are in the right place. Garda resources, including recruits, must increase. This will provide the back-up to ensure that the speed limit is implemented on every road in Ireland. Everybody must uphold the law.

As a publican living in the country, I believe people have become more responsible. Young people and older people of my age have been caught. From talking to fellow publicans, sales have halved because people of my age have stopped drinking in pubs. They know they cannot drive after drinking more than three pints. The trade is going to die but if it means saving lives, so be it.

This Bill contains aspects that seek to punish more severely those caught. We must make examples of those who consistently drink and drive. If a person is caught, he or she should be punished. In the event of a second offence, the punishment should be doubled or trebled.

Some 12 years ago my wife and I came across an accident while travelling to a function. A man had been driving while stone drunk and a girl who was the passenger was trapped in the car. It took half an hour for the ambulance to arrive. While the drunk driver would not acknowledge me, my wife or the garda, the girl slowly died as we watched the blood drain from her. The driver was banned from the road but exactly one year ago the same driver spent the day in the pub before driving a car he did not own and crashing into my father. My father was left to die at 81 years of age and the driver took to the fields. After many of us chasing him, the Garda Síochána arrested the man. When questioned, after finally accepting that he had been driving, his first question was who would pay for the damage to his car. That man cannot be prosecuted because my father would have to go to court to make a statement. These people must be put away without being given a second chance. When dealing with such people stiff penalties are required.

I have debated the issue of the quality of Irish roads and road signs for the past three or four months. I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Cullen, as he left the Chamber. Everybody is beginning to agree. This is the matter that will really test this Government and test Gay Byrne's resolve to remain as chairperson. Until this is addressed, there will be carnage on our roads.

I was in Roscommon, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Louth and Cavan in the space of two days and it is not different in any county. Contractors who are given a job to do on a road are paid nearly by the square inch and, when they apply tarmac, the sides of the roads are left unfinished. Everybody knows what I am talking about. It is a council's responsibility at the end of the day and Fine Gael in Government will ensure that every county council will be responsible for its roads.

When contractors finish their job, the margins are not filled in. If a young or nervous driver pulls in to the side of the road to facilitate an oncoming lorry, the car hits the bank and veers out onto the road again. That is what happened two months ago to my neighbour aged 30 who is on the list to which I refer. He went in off the road to avoid a car, hit the kerb which did not hold, his car veered out and he ended up being killed. According to EU statistics, the bad roads and bad road signs of this country are responsible for 30% of deaths.

It is a pity the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government did not hold out. The Minister for Transport cannot do this on his own. We must have a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who is prepared to provide more gardaí to ensure that speeding and drink driving are not issues, but we must have Ministers for Finance and for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government who are prepared to fund repairs to the roads.

The roads are a disgrace. It is the one area which has been let deteriorate. It is usually the one on which action is taken before local elections. I remember, even when I was aged ten, that upcoming local elections meant one could guarantee the boys would be out working on the roads. I suppose we must wait until then to see it happen again. There are potholes the size of small lakes in every county and one could fish in them at this stage. Given the amount of money available to the Exchequer, I cannot believe that roads are an issue.

Road signs are another issue. Last week a man was brought to court for cutting back hedges. This prosecution was taken under legislation protecting birds, with which I agree. Despite this signposts on every small road in Ireland are covered with white weed. No councils fulfil their responsibility anymore because there are no people on the roads with scythes or strimmers to cut the weeds. People have had accidents and are being killed.

I will always remember that, in my parish of Nobber, five people from one family — a mother, her two children, her sister-in-law and her niece — in one car came to a crossroads in Monaghan where there were no proper road signs. They went through it and were killed. The five of them were brought into the parish church in Nobber in one bunch. One can no longer go through that crossroads because it has been made a staggered junction, but it is too late for that family. Across the Border and in England, every road is marked. I crossed into south Armagh the other evening to do a job and the first thing I encountered was a small byroad which was signposted.

As one approaches a stop sign from a distance, it is the size of a sixpence. If we want to reduce road deaths, we must put up proper signs at every junction on every road, from Kerry to Donegal. We have tried drink driving and speeding campaigns. Everybody knows about those issues but the numbers of deaths on the roads are increasing. According to the EU figures, 30% of road deaths are caused by bad roads and bad road signs. As Ireland's roads are worse than everyone's, I can clearly state from the heart that 40% of the deaths in this country are due to bad roads and that is our responsibility, at local and national levels.

There are counties like my county of Meath that cannot afford to spend money on their roads because they do not have an adequate rate base from jobs. My county, I am ashamed to say, has the worst roads in Ireland. It would give me great pleasure to bring Deputy Olivia Mitchell or any Minister down the byroads of County Meath. The Minister would be ashamed of his life, yet he sees our council is in debt owing to the lack of employment. That is why I say it is the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government who must be responsible for ensuring that, where counties do not have the money to invest in these roads, it is done at national level.

As I said last week, there is no point in stating in this House on budget day all the money that is available while the list to which I referred continues to grow. It will continue to grow and will affect my family, that of the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, or someone else's family. We will continue to state weekly in this House how terrible it is. Looking at that list, it strikes me that there should be an immediate audit of where all these accidents occurred, why they occurred and a photograph of where they occurred. I noted that 22 or 23 of these people were killed in Cork, which is an area that could be examined.

The Road Traffic Bill is specifically to provide for what we, as Deputies, have had to speak about weekly. For the previous 47 years of my life, I probably witnessed as many road deaths as anybody. No doubt everyone in this House has come across them on occasion. Ireland has the worst record — 11 persons per 100,000. The European average is six persons per 100,000. One is six times more likely to be killed riding a motorbike on a road in Ireland than anywhere else.

One cannot blame the Irish people for everything. Although I do not say the Government does so, everything documented, even in the Bill, seems to address the driver or the young person. I say we are responsible. The number one priority of county councils, whether controlled by Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin or whoever, should be to ensure that every road our children take, whether by minibus, car or whatever, is safe. They are not.

As Fine Gael spokesperson on safety, I can guarantee that we in Fine Gael will ensure when we are in Government that every county council will be made responsible for the roads of this country. Instead of putting up flowers, with which many councils decorate the middle of a town, they will be filling in every pothole in every county. They will ensure that the verges of every road are properly filled in. We had a visitor from America who could not believe that we do not ensure that roads are finished, not just in the centre but to a tee.

Every road should be marked. I live on the N52 which is marked on the left-hand and right-hand sides with yellow illumination and down the middle in white, and driving home in the evening is a pleasure. Whether frosty or snowy, whether dark or bright, one knows where one is going. This Bill must be implemented to ensure that the list of people to which I refer is reduced. Over the past six years, 700 people died because of bad roads. They should not have died.

The legal side of this must be handled in dealing with drink driving. Speeding must be handled by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, by ensuring that gardaí patrol the streets and are given support. It is not good enough to have them patrolling the dual carriageways, handily catching people going home. They must patrol rural areas where people are being killed on bad roads or on roads where the speed limits are inappropriate. We must ensure that families do not have to go through the trauma that the families of the people in the list to which I referred went through.

At this stage, everybody must work together and there is no point in being nice about it. I welcome this great legislation. I had the pleasure of sitting through Noel Brett's presentation for two hours last week because the new board has everything covered under the chairmanship of Gay Byrne. We, in the Opposition, will not stand in the way of this legislation but we will hold Gay Byrne responsible for ensuring everything the board requires is provided. All the provisions in the legislation in addition to the requirements of the authority must be implemented to ensure our people are safe on the roads, otherwise 450 people will die again next year.

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