Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I welcome such co-operation and joint road safety awareness campaigns. I hope we will move towards an all-island road safety strategy. My principal concern is with penalty points. I do not under-estimate the difficulty in co-ordinating the two systems. Much time, however, has been lost. If we are to move on a trilateral or a Europe-wide basis, it will take forever. The urgency is in respect of Northern Ireland and the South. One only has to drive on the M1 to see what is happening. Invariably, cars that overtake on the M1 at enormous speeds are northern registered cars and similarly, on the northern side of the Border, southern registered cars have no regard for speed limits. The accident statistics will bear that out in the northern regions. There is a definite urgency in reaching agreement on mutual recognition of penalty points between Northern Ireland and the South. Will the Minister consider fast-tracking this? If we are looking to the rest of Europe to move with us, it will take for ever.

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