Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I compliment my colleague for tabling this motion. The Government is not able to deal with the penalty points situation; there is no system for notifying people who are given penalty points. Many of my constituents were unable to pay their fines at the post office because the system had been computerised and had been moved on to the next section. A person should be allowed pay such fines. They must wait for somebody to call to the door. I understand 44,000 summonses have not been issued by the Department and something is very wrong.

The abuse of drugs has been talked about for the past week. Many people have been killed on the roads, not because of drunken driving but because of people taking drugs. I hope the Minister will respond tomorrow night and inform the House of the situation regarding testing for drugs. Has the Government clarified the legal position with the Attorney General? There is no doubt that some people have been killed on the roads because they have been high on cocaine. Given of the level of drug-taking, there must be hundreds of people in clubs and pubs who hop into cars and think they are Roy Rogers or whoever and that they can drive at 100 km/h when they are high on drugs. I want to know the up-to-date position. When will legislation be introduced to deal with this very serious problem?

The issue of foreign drivers has been raised on many occasions. They come from England, America and Northern Ireland. When will these people be prosecuted and when will penalty points be applied to their licences? When will there be an all-Ireland system so that people who break the law in this State will have penalty points applied to their licences in whatever jurisdiction they reside?

I live in a tourism town. Drivers from England and Northern Ireland break all the rules of the road. They do not care whether they are given tickets or penalty points because they know the Irish State will not be able to do anything. They park where they like and they do not seem to mind the parking tickets on their cars because they drive back to Northern Ireland, England and America and nothing is done about it. This gives the wrong example to those who obey the law.

Driving should be part of the transition year curriculum in schools. Young people could be taught how to drive. Anyone applying for a gun licence must be given clearance by the Garda Síochána. A car is a bigger weapon. More people are killed by cars than by guns. We should educate people at a young age and train them to respect a vehicle and the rules of the road. I hope driving will be taught in schools.

Since penalty points were introduced, people have changed their attitude and have changed how they drive. They know that if they do not drive correctly on the road there is a possibility that they will lose their licence. There is no doubt the penalty points system has worked.

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