Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I welcome this important, albeit brief, debate. The issue is the Government's record on road safety. This is the third such policy document that has been issued. The most important target in the last policy document was that there should be less than 300 road deaths in 2006, although everybody understands that any death is unacceptable. Unfortunately, that target was not met and 368 people died on our roads last year. When we talk about people signing up to targets, we must remember that the fundamental target in the last road safety strategy was not met. I acknowledge that there were significant reductions in that road deaths between 2001 and 2006 were cut by 11%. However, countries such as France, Luxembourg and Portugal have reduced road deaths by much more — over 40% in France, 45% in Portugal and approximately 48% in Luxembourg. Notwithstanding any argument the Minister may make against what I am saying, if one looks at Portugal, car ownership in the same period increased by more than 138% whereas in Ireland the increase was 99%. Comparing like with like, we are not as effective as we ought to be. I agree with Deputy McEntee that by working together as a Parliament and community we can tackle this issue.

We were happy with a reduction of the blood alcohol limit to 50mg/100ml but disappointed that a Member on the Government side chickened out on that change. We need to reduce blood alcohol levels and the country is ready for that reduction. I cannot understand why this is not included in the Minister's document and will not happen until after the next local and European elections.

The Minister needs to tackle the problem of uninsured drivers and penalty points incurred by unlicensed drivers. It is estimated that there are 100,000 uninsured drivers who are three times more likely than other road users to be involved in a road traffic accident, six times more likely to drive while under the influence of alcohol and ten times more likely to be involved in other criminal activities. Tackling them will be a major task. We would have no problem teasing out these issues or reviewing the strategy at quarterly meetings of the Joint Committee on Transport. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform would have to be involved in tackling uninsured drivers, which would have a significant impact.

The Government has failed utterly to deal with the 108,000 drivers whose driving was erratic enough to warrant the application of penalty points but who do not hold Irish driving licences. We do not know whether they were Irish people driving without a licence. My research shows, however, that in many cases they are drivers from Northern Ireland and Great Britain, not from the accession countries. If 108,000 people can drive at will without incurring penalty points, the Minister has a massive problem on his hands. It is totally unacceptable that we must wait until other European countries merge their legislation.

The Automobile Association has submitted a proposal to the Department of Transport for a parallel driving licence system, whereby the Department would hold a copy of the licence of a driver who does not hold an Irish driving licence but comes to the notice of the police and incurs penalty points. The points could accrue on this copy until the driver is put off the road.

These two critical issues must be addressed. The Minister's difficulty last week arose not from what he proposed to do but from the fact that his Department had failed repeatedly to organise driving tests. Unless the waiting period is significantly reduced, he cannot apply any new regulation. He says it will be ten weeks but one of his predecessors, Deputy Cullen, said it would be four weeks. His biggest failure is that he did not listen to others and think about those issues but I am not here to lecture him because the public has made up its mind on the issue.

We are prepared to work with the Government and other parties and community groups on the road safety strategy. I fully support Deputy McEntee's proposal. The Joint Committee on Transport could review targets quarterly with the various players involved.

The French have reduced their number of road deaths by almost 50% by revising conditions for learner drivers. After a preliminary test, a learner driver must complete 400 kilometres with a qualified driving instructor, attend classroom sessions accompanied by the designated supervising driver who must be aged 28 years or over and whose licence has been clean for the previous three years. The learner driver must complete a log and a total of 3,000 kilometres with a supervisor before going out on the public road. Newly qualified drivers must display a special plate for their first year and their maximum speed is limited to 90 km/h. There is a great deal of work to be done in this respect which we will support in order that we can move forward together. Above all, the Minister must listen to what others say and consult. If he does, we can win this battle.

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