Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I join other speakers in congratulating the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, on his appointment. He comes highly recommended. I hope and pray that he can live up to the aspirations of many, which I am sure he will, but I wish him well in his role.

The main objective and thrust of any road traffic Bill is to reduce fatalities and save lives. Recent years have seen reductions in that regard and I compliment the Minister who earlier paid tribute to his predecessors who played their part and to the various organisations associated with road traffic safety, both voluntary and in the public sector, for the work they have done and continue to do in that regard. We have had many initiatives in recent years which have had the desired effect. Our emphasis now is to continue that trend and I have every faith in the Minister and his Department in that regard.

Many Members have spoken about the quality of our roads and the detrimental effect of the adverse weather we experienced this winter and last winter on our county roads. Notice must be taken of that issue. In the context of finance being made available, every effort should be made by the Cabinet and the Minister to attract funding to deal with the detrimental effect on the county and regional roads. Otherwise, as Deputy Durkan said, our motorways and national routes have been hugely improved and advanced in the past ten to 12 years. That is to be commended and we all take advantage of it. It improves the viability of, and accessibility to, many of the country's regions for business and trade. However, it could allow us to become complacent with regard to road safety and that is a recipe for falling standards and allowing driver behaviour to fall below par. The modernisation of driver training and licensing has been and will continue to be the foundation stone of the Government's current road safety strategy.

The key to maintaining the emphasis on driver behaviour is to continuously seek to change and improve that behaviour. Part 2 of the Road Traffic Act 2010, which was signed into law last year, reduces the blood alcohol concentration levels for drivers from 80 mg to 50 mg and to 20 mg for learner drivers. There is provision for mandatory breath testing on the basis of an opinion being formed by the garda at the scene. As other Members have mentioned, in the case of an accident such mandatory breath testing is paramount. Even in a hospital a consent to that being carried out can be given by the doctor in charge, which is to be commended. These sections 9 and 14 now come into play but, due to testing, the equipment involved will not be ready until later this year. I commend the Minister for coming forward at this early stage to provide the legal basis for such testing of drivers.

I agree with Deputy Ó Snodaigh's comments on the issue of prescription drugs. Perhaps that could be considered in the context of future legislation. As has been said, the medical advice to people consuming these medicines is that they should not drive and if they do, they are putting themselves and other road users at risk.

While I have been allocated ten minutes to speak, there is no need to rehash what has been said already. I compliment the Minister on bringing forward the Bill and compliment his predecessors on its contents. It is obvious that everybody supports the measures in the Bill. However, like other speakers, I ask the Minister to consider making funding available in rural counties where county and regional roads have been adversely affected by past winters. Having made great strides with regard to road safety, road conditions and road improvements, it would be remiss not to address that issue in the short term and get us back on a level course for the future.

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