David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the legislation and support any environmentally friendly effort to reduce CO2 emissions. I encourage the Minister along this road, if Members will pardon the pun, because much needs to be done in this area.

Ireland is becoming car dependent. When I and the Minister were growing up, that was not the case. People cycled and walked much more. It is now part of our culture in that we are inclined to rush from A to B. People do not seem to have time, they want to drop their children at the door of the school and park as close as possible to the shop door.

This is a welcome first step, encouraging people to purchase cars with low emissions. There are a number of anomalies in this Bill, which my colleagues have pointed out, regarding importing cars. I hope the Minister will deal with those anomalies on Committee and Report Stages.

I travel by public transport when I can and I enjoy it. I had to drive today from Cork to Dublin. It was fine until I encountered serious traffic congestion in Dublin, which has improved. I noticed the number of single occupants in large cars. We must encourage people to car share.

We must encourage children to cycle to school. One of the issues is that the roads are dangerous and parents are afraid of allowing children to cycle. A related issue is the weight of school bags, which is appalling. I have a child of 12 years of age and I can hardly lift the bag. Putting that on the back of a bicycle is dangerous. Another reason children do not cycle is because of the amount of gear they have, with PE gear and school bags. If he wants children to cycle to school, the Minister should speak with the Minister for Education and Science and ask her to talk to publishers about reducing the size of books. When I was in school we had a book for every year. Nowadays, there are three in one tome, massive encyclopedias that youngsters carry around. This discourages children from cycling or walking.

In years to come, we could see the Department with responsibility for education before the courts. Adults may claim that their backs were damaged because they were forced to carry heavy bags to school as children. We had cases of army deafness. I served for 25 years in the FCA. At one stage I was told not to wear ear muffs because they were not issued to me. I did not claim anything but many others did. In 15 or 20 years time adults may approach the State and claim that they were forced, through the Department of Education and Science, to carry heavy books to school as children and that the State did nothing to protect them. They may also claim they were unable to cycle because of it. I know the Minister is genuine about this matter and I want him to speak to the Minister for Education and Science because she will not listen to me.

In rural areas, many landowners do not cut their hedgerows. I do not know if responsibility for this matter lies with the Department of Transport or the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. If hedgerows are not cut, it is dangerous to walk or cycle on roads. It is a simple issue but we do not seem to have clear lines of responsibility. Local authorities should be instructed by the Minister in charge to ensure hedgerows are cut back so that pedestrians and cyclists can see where they are going. This will encourage more people to walk and cycle and cut emissions, which is the aim of this Bill.

People are driving too fast on rural roads and speed limits need to be reduced. Road signs in many areas are absolutely filthy. This may be within the Minister's remit and is slightly off the point of this Bill. However, whichever Minister is responsible should tell the local authorities to wash the blasted signs. It gives a bad indication to visitors and locals. Road signs are covered with red algae or they are black and dirty. Washing them is a simple thing and I do not know why it cannot be done.

Some people must have large, powerful vehicles because of the work they do. Is there a danger that they may be penalised unfairly? I refer to those who work on the land or in forestry and need large vehicles to pull heavy loads. The Minister might respond to that matter.

The other issue I wish to raise is non-nationals bringing cars to this country and the enforcement of vehicle registration of imported cars. A large number of cars are brought into this country. Under the legislation they must be registered within one year but there are difficulties with registration and insurance. The fact that many of the cars are left-hand drive is also a problem. Overtaking is not easy when driving a left-hand drive car due to the visibility problem. We must ensure that these foreign registered vehicles are re-registered in this country and made liable for Irish motor tax and insurance. This might have to be done at European level. The emissions from these cars are also an issue because some of them are quite old. How is that to be dealt with? It is not safe to have too many left-hand drive cars in the country. The Minister should deal with this.

I welcome any initiative that will reduce CO2 emissions and encourage people to walk, cycle and buy smaller cars. Perhaps the table of charges should be more graduated to promote the use of smaller cars. People should be encouraged to share cars. However, the issue of people who require large vehicles for their business or employment must be examined. Other speakers have mentioned the condition of minor roads, a matter that is probably under the remit of the Department of Transport but affects motor vehicles. If those roads are in very bad condition, as many of them are with potholes and so forth, it will damage cars. I urge the Government and local authorities to ensure that these roads are maintained to a high standard.

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