Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 4, to delete lines 27 to 29.

In all the amendments I have resubmitted, I have not tried to second-guess the Minister or to introduce new issues, partly because he promised another Bill but also because we have to give the new Road Safety Authority an opportunity to establish what needs to be done in many areas. Much of what is important can be done by way of regulation. I am anxious that the Bill we pass is sound. I kept my amendments to areas where the Act would be vulnerable in the future.

This is one of the areas where I consider that allowing people to use a hand-held mobile phone to call the Garda or an ambulance is leaving a hostage to fortune. I accept that in an emergency people must be able to telephone the ambulance, the Garda, the fire brigade or whoever else they want. Subsection (7)(b) caters for that whereas subsection (7)(a) opens up a minefield. There are opportunities for deceit by people who might later pretend they were telephoning the Garda when it might transpire they were telephoning to renew their passport. As well as the opportunity for deceit, one is offering a possible defence to people. The Bill would be much stronger if we were to remove what I consider a gaping hole.

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