Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The only recommendations on this matter I received from the Road Safety Authority were contained in the road safety strategy published at the end of October. The Deputy is referring to a draft document that was for discussion and part of a series of discussions that took place in respect of all the road safety strategies and all the 126 recommendations.

I was not and am not privy to what happened with the Road Safety Authority in those discussions. However, I presume, as I said before in the House, that a number of drafts on a number of different issues were brought up initially, discussed and then decided upon at a later stage. The Road Safety Authority advised me that it wanted a bit more time and expertise to decide the optimum level to which this should be reduced.

These are sensitive areas for some people. Some people will say that they are in favour of reducing limits and forcing drivers on a second provisional licence to be accompanied by another driver until one actually does it. I am not referring to the Deputy, who has been very strong in this regard, but some people take that attitude. One of the remarkable things about road safety is that everybody believes it is the actions of the other person that cause the problem rather than their own actions. This is externalisation.

As soon as I get that report — we will probably even discuss it at the committee with the Road Safety Authority because we said we would do that on a quarterly basis or thereabouts — we will bring it forward and legislation will have to be put in place. It is not my desire to delay it and the quicker we can get it done, the better.

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