Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I wish to ask the Taoiseach about his appointments. Before he appointed Deputy Dempsey as Minister for Transport, the Taoiseach was aware of his political history. He knew of the Minister's enthusiasm for electronic voting and how he made a shambles of it, costing €60 million. He knew of the Minister's intention to introduce third level fees until he discovered that the plain people of Ireland would not accept it. The Taoiseach was also aware that the Minister used the official resources of the Department of Education and Science to provide material for the local elections, for which he had to apologise. Despite this, the Taoiseach appointed him Minister for Transport on 14 June 2007. Unfortunately, the situation has gone from bad to worse since then.

The Minister tried to renege on a promise to introduce compulsory breath testing at the scene of a traffic accident, which came about following a Private Members' motion by Fine Gael. He presided over the loss of slots from Shannon to Belfast and, in a series of blunders, he said senior business figures in the region were exaggerating the impact. He failed to appoint directors who could have explained the matter to the board and when evidence emerged that his Department had been notified some weeks in advance of Aer Lingus making its decision, he appointed an official to inquire into her own actions.

However, I have never seen such a monumental fiasco perpetrated on the people of this country by any Minister as has been done last Thursday, despite the fact that we heard on numerous occasions that it was discussed in some detail by the Cabinet, on their salaries of €250,000 and above. The handling of the provisional licence situation is a complete and utter shambles and has forced the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, into the most public, humiliating U-turn in Irish political history. He has demeaned the Road Safety Authority and its staff and has given people the impression that legislation is not to be respected.

On Sunday, he told us his neck was on the line, that 120,000 holders of second provisional licences would be tested by next March and that everybody who wants a test by next June will have it on demand. If his neck is on the line and these two criteria are not met, is the Taoiseach prepared to dismiss the Minister, Deputy Dempsey?

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