Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak to this new legislation. I welcome the debate as it gives us a real chance to get into the detail of road safety, traffic and commercial vehicle issues and broader financial matters. It is a wide-ranging debate and I am delighted the Minister of State is in the House.

Before getting to the detail of the legislation, I will raise a significant commercial vehicle safety matter relating to the Dublin Port tunnel. A dangerous incident could happen at any minute and there is a catastrophe waiting to happen. I urge the Minister of State to take on board the information I will supply today. Currently, all the vehicle lay-bys in the tunnel have a sheer wall at a right angle to the direction of traffic. It is the same design as the lay-by wall in the Swiss tunnel where recently a Belgian school bus crashed, killing 28 people, 22 of whom were children. I would like to see some action taken, as within a week of the Swiss accident, which sadly resulted in 28 deaths, the Swiss authorities installed safety barriers in the tunnel to prevent vehicles from directly hitting the wall.

I ask the Minister of State, the National Roads Authority and the operators of the Dublin Port tunnel to ensure this can be examined immediately. I raise this not only as a local public safety issue but as a national public safety matter. The Swiss responded within a matter of weeks when they spotted the problem and a safety barrier should be erected to stop buses from being driven into sheer walls. Safety is an important part of Irish driving life and it is relevant to this debate. I urge the Minister of State to go back to the senior officials in his Department and put that issue before them. It is a genuine public safety issue about which people have major concerns. There should be action before we have another incident. There have been major problems affecting the Dublin Port tunnel, with homes damaged etc. I have worked very closely with the residents in Marino, Santry, Drumcondra, Fairview and right across Dublin North-Central in supporting their efforts. Those people were compensated in the end. It is important to deal with such public safety issues.

This Bill provides for reform of the commercial vehicle roadworthiness testing system. That is sensible and all political parties should welcome it. The legislation also seeks to introduce a plastic card driving licence and revise administrative arrangements for the processing and management of driving licences. I know some of my colleagues touched on these issues earlier but I will also deal with them at a later time. This legislation will have implications for all drivers, and those of us who do much travelling around the city and country will find it relevant.

The primary purpose of the Bill is to establish a legislative framework for commercial vehicle roadworthiness testing in the State. The Bill will see the functions of local authorities in relation to CVR testing being assumed by the Road Safety Authority. In addition, the Bill will provide for a new licensing system in respect of test centres and authorised testers as well as greater powers of enforcement through targeted roadside inspections and inspections of commercial operators' premises. I mentioned road safety, and we must have proper planning of barriers etc., but there must also be enforcement. A number of colleagues from all parties have stated on the record that there is a major issue with some operators, and we cannot tolerate that. There must be qualified inspections of these commercial operators, although at the same time we must not overdo it or harass people. I will refer to this later.

Safety is the key word. In 2009, the fatality rate was 53 people per million of population but in 1999 the rate was 110 people per million of population; it seems there is improvement in road safety. We are discussing vehicles, and 52% of all motor vehicles involved in fatal collisions in 2009 were registered in 2001 or earlier, so there is a link between the collisions and roadworthiness of some of the cars and vehicles. Nobody is squeaky clean in this regard, and we have all had bangers. We must be responsible in maintaining the vehicles, inspections and road safety. Road deaths in Ireland have fallen to their lowest level since records were officially taken in 1959, which I welcome. I mentioned the rate of deaths, and at 53 deaths per million of population, it is less than half the rate in 1999, when the first Government road safety strategy commenced. There was an increase in reports of minor injury collisions in 2009, which contrasted with decreasing trends in recent years.

We are dealing with safety and people's lives but there are also injuries to consider. Another relevant issue is being neglected in this debate, although it is very relevant to the broader economic discussion. The estimated costs of all road collisions reported through and recorded by An Garda Síochána is in the region of €974 million. It is a high figure but reflects a reduction of 29% since 2007.

We have been getting lectures in recent days about the fiscal treaty and budgetary strategies. I am in favour of improving road safety measures to reduce costs to the Garda. A sum of €974 million to pay for the fallout from road deaths and collisions is a significant cost to the taxpayer and it must be examined. Health and safety in people's lives are the most important issue and, therefore, I do not want to dwell on the cost because a person killed in a road traffic accident cannot be replaced but a figure of €974 million jumps out. Good planning, sensible legislation and good road safety measures can lead to a reduction in this amount. It was reduced by 29% over the past five years and, therefore, the Government can push the boat out further on this. The safety of our citizens is not a party political issue unlike the economic crisis. If somebody brings in legislation, tables amendments or comes up with new ideas to improve road safety, I will support him or her and I will not sit on the fence.

A total of 52% of all motor vehicles involved in fatal collisions were registered in 2001 or earlier. More than half were dodgy cars or cars that were at risk and this is a strong connection. The good news is this legislation is an attempt to do something about this. We must ensure we all work closely on this issue. We must come up with other strategies to deal with traffic and road safety issues.

I was disappointed when the metro north project was postponed and not just for the north side of Dublin. I am not locally biased politically.

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