Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Road Traffic Bill 2006. I am not convinced that the provisions of the Bill will make a meaningful contribution to driver behaviour on our roads or will have any effect on the reduction of road deaths. I say that because I am convinced that the legislation currently in place, if implemented, would make a major contribution to improving road safety but is not being implemented simply because the Garda manpower is not in place to ensure enforcement. There is no point in introducing legislation here when there is no possibility of it being implemented due to shortage of Garda manpower.

Road safety is being managed on a public relations rather than a practical, effective basis. The public relations philosophy is evident every year at Christmas time and at other festive times of the year. There are television and radio interviews with high-ranking gardaí, backed up by television footage of Charlie Bird, or some other Charlie, getting excited while speaking above pictures of traffic on a dual-carriageway somewhere near Dublin. It would be too expensive to move out to the country to narrow roads, where late at night the accidents generally occur. The subliminal message being received by the public is that the only times the law is enforced are when we are advised by a big public relations spree on national television, and at other times — the other 11 and a half months of the year — we need not worry because there is no enforcement. That is an irresponsible message to give out.

This public relations circus was further highlighted by the appointment of Gay Byrne as chairman of the National Safety Authority. We had just got rid of Gay Byrne from the national airwaves and after suffering the trauma of being exposed to him for so many years, now the Minister for Transport foisted him on us again. Have we not been exposed to Gay Byrne too much over the years without having to suffer him for longer?

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