Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Tá mé ag tabhairt tacaíocht don Bhille seo. Measaim go bhfuil sé léirithe ag fianaise go gcuireann fiú an méid is lú d'alcól isteach ar ábaltacht an tiomanaí. Ardaíonn aon alcól an dainséar go mbeidh duine i dtimpiste marfach. Nuair atá gluaisteán á thiomáint ag duine atá faoi thionchar alcól nó drugaí, is gléas marfach é. Is de thairbhe tiomáint faoi thionchar alcól tromlach na dtimpistí nach bhfuil ach gluaisteán amháin iontu. Tá baint ag an alcól le trian de timpistí marfacha. Tá méadú ag teacht chomh maith ar an líon dóibh siúd atá ag tiomáint faoi thionchar drugaí mídhleathacha agus drugaí dleathacha.

The final point I was making as gaelige is that the incidence of drug driving is increasing. The Garda Síochána need to be given adequate resources to test not alone for alcohol but illegal drug taking by drivers. I was interested to hear that 30% of accidents are caused by poor road surfaces, a figure which I believe will increase in the forthcoming year given the state of our roads not alone in rural Ireland but in this city and the response of Government through its measly grant to local authorities, which was robbing Peter to pay Paul, to help them address the problems that have emerged, including to repair potholes. Unless we invest in a proper road structure and address some of the blackspots which remain visible throughout the country, pothole candidates, such as those who surfaced during the campaign in this regard in Cavan and Monaghan some 15 or 20 years ago, will resurface. We appear to be returning to those days owing to the failure of Government to invest in non-national roads and to ensure they are maintained at a standard that is safe to drive on. Since Christmas, I have driven on many roads in this State that are unfit for driving. They are a danger not alone to drivers but to people walking or cycling on them and will lead to further accidents.

As regards the main topic of this Bill, we need preventative education and good, strong laws to challenge the widespread culture of impaired driving that has existed for many years. For many people it was, and continues to be, socially acceptable to drive while impaired. We need to do more by way of education to ensure the message goes out to each person with an inkling to get behind the wheel of a lethal weapon having consumed one, two or up to ten drinks, that this is not acceptable and that he or she is as guilty of anti-social behaviour as are the thugs who maraud the streets at weekends. We need to develop a culture of drug and alcohol free driving. While young people in particular have a role to play in this regard, there is an onus on older people to show they too can change and lead by example.

We need to be more imaginative in this respect. I do not believe the proposal in this Bill to lower the drink driving limit will curb the culture of drink driving. We need to examine other initiatives, including making available adequate resources to the Garda Síochána to enable it to carry out random breath testing. The widespread public education campaigns, some of which are already underway, need to be hammered home through many more media. We must accurately inform drivers of the full effects of alcohol and in regard to how long it takes alcohol to work its way through the system, including how long after one consumes alcohol one should wait before it is safe to drive a vehicle. We must promote the culture of alcohol and drug free driving. This campaign should be implemented not alone at primary and secondary school level but in the general community through youth clubs and pubs and anywhere alcohol is sold.

While I support the Bill, I take major issue with its failure to address any of the issues around public transport services, in particular rural transport provision. There is no point in Government implementing this Bill unless it gets its act together quickly on the issue of public transport, in particular rural transport. I heard Deputies Mary White and Aylward lament the shortfall in our existing rural transport network. Deputy White stated that if a member of a future Government she would seek further investment in this area. The Deputy does not appear to have noticed that her party is in Government now and is presiding over cuts in the rural transport initiatives and public transport area. Perhaps somebody needs to switch on a light somewhere.

I am a Dublin TD and I can, as Deputy McGrath stated, if I wish, go for a drink in the safe knowledge that I can hail a taxi outside my home, pub or workplace easy enough, despite it being costly to do so. While we were told deregulation would drive down prices, prices have increased owing to the taxi regulator's attitude towards costs. I can also avail of public transport in this city, including a bus service, the Luas and DART service. There is a problem in that all public transport systems finish early. Bus services finish at 11.30 p.m. and the Luas finishes at 12.30 a.m., even at weekends. This needs to change. We must provide a form of transport beyond taxis for people wishing to enjoy themselves beyond 12.30 a.m., at weekends in particular. I suggest the Minister examines this proposal.

People in rural Ireland do not have the luxury of being able to hail a taxi from a rural pub even though there are tens of thousands of licensed taxis in this country. Also, an issue of cost arises owing to the distances and so on involved. In some cases, taxis will not travel to isolated areas. Deputies on all sides of the House have demanded that the Government make proper investment in rural transport initiatives not alone in respect of the service provided up to 6 p.m in Tipperary and other areas but beyond that to ensure social services are available to those who are isolated in small towns that are haemorrhaging people, businesses and a social network. Rural communities have seen their small towns and villages suffer disproportionately after recent budgets. They have seen their local post offices, Garda stations, and in many cases pubs, shops and businesses close down. They have seen many businesses pulling out which has led to a significant jump in unemployment in those areas. On top of that, they have seen cuts in the public transport provision in recent months. Far from investing in public transport, the Government has seen fit to stand by while our already inadequate public transport services have been cut to oblivion. In truth the Government is anti-rural Ireland and anti-public services. Successive cuts to Bus Éireann have further undermined rural and regional transport. Some 100 Bus Éireann routes are due to be cut or severely curtailed in coming months. Last summer the night-time rural transport programme was phased out. Such illogical cuts of successive projects cannot be defended.

The Bill needs to be grounded in the provision of adequate rural transport services but it is not. For many in isolated rural areas the only social time people get is when they go to the local pub on a Friday or Saturday night. Without adequate rural transport the Government is consigning thousands of people to a very lonely life.

The 2002 national rural transport survey found that 380,000 people described the rural transport system as inadequate for their needs. The result of this survey showed that 24% of the total rural population perceived themselves as having unmet transport needs while in some key groups the proportion with unmet needs was higher. While private transport is the predominant mode of transport in rural areas, some 20% of people in Counties Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim do not have access to a car. The nonsensical cuts to public transport and rural transport in particular will come back to haunt the Government. Those cuts will not contribute to the purpose of the Bill and will not help in curbing the culture of drink driving; they may do the opposite and encourage it. The Government and in particular the Green Party need to wake up to these cuts and, particularly in the context of this debate, to the cuts in the night-time rural transport initiative. I never understood the logic to the cuts especially from the Green Party point of view. That party claims to be about saving the environment and reducing emissions, yet it is encouraging people to get into their private cars and drive even though there was quite a successful initiative to get people to leave their cars at home and take some form of public transport. The Green Party presided over the cut in that initiative.

I heard Deputy Cuffe say that the need for Garda resources was a matter for the Garda Commissioner. In many ways it is a matter for the Commissioner to ensure that when we pass this Bill, the Garda has the resources and equipment required to test people on a more regular basis to ensure that nobody driving over the alcohol limit escapes detection and the penalties that go therewith. At the end of the day, however, the Commissioner can operate only within a budget. If the Garda has a budget that prevents it from recruiting and promoting gardaí and from giving them the basic tools such as e-mail or broadband in stations, the appropriate cars and radio equipment, it is a matter for the Government and not the Commissioner. Deputy Cuffe should focus on his Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in this regard.

Many pubs in rural areas have invested in minibuses to bring the punters to and from the pub in a safe and efficient manner. That has worked and I have enjoyed the company of people whom I would never have met before in some of these minibuses going to and from pubs over the years. This scheme needs to be explored in greater detail. Not only does it create jobs, but it also encourages an environmentally friendly way to go home and creates local community transport networks. Is there a mechanism which would make this cheaper and encourage other publicans to get involved in such a scheme? Perhaps the Minister can be encouraged to look again at the night-time rural transport programme and to reinitiate it and reinvest in it.

Another bugbear of mine is that it is cheaper for me to drink a pint of an alcoholic beverage than to drink a pint of a mineral. Yet I can go to the shop next door and find it is much cheaper. There must be some way for us to encourage publicans to make minerals and bottled water cheaper for those who are the designated drivers and who wish to enjoy the company and craic in a pub at night but who are getting penalised because they are not drinking alcohol. There needs to be an initiative to encourage publicans to mark down the prices of soft drinks. There was an initiative for a while whereby those who indicated to the publican they were designated drivers got a free mineral or whatever. Perhaps that needs to be reconsidered.

We need to ensure this legislation is passed and I will support it. I support the lowering of the drink-driving limit.

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