Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I wish to share time with Deputy Lynch.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and I welcome the measures proposed in it. However, it indicates the slowness of the Government to respond to what has been a frightening increase in fatalities and road accidents. We are all conscious of the tragedies associated with the statistics. When we say that 374 people were killed in 2004 and 395 in 2005, it can sound cold and barren. If we think of each individual that was killed having a family that grieves to this day, it sets the figures in a different context. The Government response has been disappointing. Questions must be raised about the Government when such a serious issue is well known, well publicised and well debated and when its response has been very slow. At times, its response has simply been incompetent.

The Bill contains provisions in respect of random breath testing and dealing with the loophole on uninsured foreign drivers, as well a ban on holding mobile phones while driving. I must confess that I, like everyone else in the House, am a sinner on the latter score. It is an important measure and I welcome that the ban will be put in place.

As spokesperson on health, I am conscious of the impact that the extraordinary level of alcohol consumption is having on our society. Anybody who has had occasion to visit an accident and emergency department at the weekend can see the direct effects of alcohol abuse. Some people can become extremely sick from the amount of alcohol consumed, while others can be injured by a fall or by violence caused by the consumption of alcohol. It was startling to read a report to the effect that Irish people spend a greater proportion of their incomes on alcohol than their counterparts in other European countries. The report in question stated that alcohol kills 115,000 people in Europe. However, Irish people spend three times more on alcohol than those in other countries and ten times more than the Greeks. One can say that the cost of alcohol is higher in Ireland but we should be mindful of this warning sign. We cannot continue to be the binge drinkers of Europe. We cannot continue to have such a high level of alcohol consumption without paying the price. We are paying the price in terms of road accidents and ill health.

We were told that it was impossible to introduce random breath testing due to constitutional issues. Suddenly and inexplicably, the Government changed its line. To have a system in which people have confidence, there must be evidence that it works. If random breath testing is to work — I hope it does — it will be tested in the courts. We have quite a tradition in that regard. The Government's penalty points scheme was welcomed warmly by the Opposition but public confidence in that system has been dramatically eroded by a level of incompetence that is hard to fathom. The Committee of Public Accounts produced information showing that 50% of speed cameras do not work, which is inexcusable. In commenting on this, Deputy Shortall stated that in the absence of extra gardaí to intercept offending motorists and with a dedicated traffic corps only being established, speed cameras are vital in doing the work for which there is simply not the manpower to carry out. She indicated that this is merely the latest flaw in a penalty points system which promised so much when it was first announced but which, sadly, has failed abysmally to live up to the hype. She pointed out that it took three years for the number of offences covered to move beyond three, while the entire system has been dogged by various legal challenges and loopholes that have allowed offending motorists to get off scot free.

In my constituency of County Wicklow, a judge recently threw out 152 speeding summonses. A total of 238 cases relating to offences of speeding along a particular section of road have been dismissed. The judge was clearly exasperated by the lack of information coming form Wicklow County Council. A basic task for a Minister introducing such a new scheme is that he or she would make sure it is implemented properly. Nobody expects a Minister to operate a speed camera or impose a fine but we expect local authorities to be formally advised as to how they can carry out the task they were set. That did not happen in this case and it has not happened in the case of other counties — County Wicklow is not unique in that respect. Many people are understandably cross about this. The people with a grievance are those who paid their fines when they were informed they had incurred penalty points for a speeding offence when driving through Kilmacanogue village, for which a fine applied. I have discovered there is not a procedure in place for those people to get a refund or to have those penalty points removed from their licences even though, according to the law and the judgment of Judge Murrough Connellan, they were not guilty of an offence. That seems harsh, and it undermines people's confidence and commitment to road safety if we have this kind of fiasco.

A low speed limit applies to that stretch of road in County Wicklow as that national primary route goes through a village, which is unusual, and that has been a cause of some concern. There is a pedestrian bridge over the road but it is not properly lit at night, youths gather there and some people are frightened to cross the bridge at certain times and they take a risk when crossing that busy road. There are a number of existing dangers of which we must be conscious. The fact that a local authority and a Department are not able to ensure there is sufficient joined-up Government to make sure any Government proposal is implemented speaks volumes on how this Government is operating.

Other speakers have made a point regarding education which I wish to raise. I hope the Minister for Education and Science will take on board the need to encourage and develop the skill of driving and respect for the rules of the road among young people. In transition year some students take driving lessons, for which they usually have to pay. That cost discriminates against young people from low income families who need to acquire the skill of driving. If a module on driving was made part of the school curriculum, respect for the rules of the road was developed from an early age and the provisions of legislation were properly implemented, we would have a much better chance of ensuring people would not end up dead or seriously injured in car wrecks. When one reflects on the number of young people who are grossly disabled and whose lives are impaired having survived serious car accidents, it brings home to us the level of carnage on our roads.

A point was made that some road fatalities are attempted suicides or suicides, an aspect of which we must be conscious. The introduction of an anti-suicide strategy may also help in reducing at least some road deaths.

See this speech in context