Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Most Members will work with the Minister on this. While everyone has a responsibility, when we support something, it needs to be done in a rational way. Once a Bill goes through, sadly, given the increased regulation introduced for motorists, commonsense seems to go out the window. We all travel around Ireland and GoSafe vans can be seen everywhere in 50 km zones. They are there to collect money because, in general, they are not found at blackspots. They are in places where they can catch someone travelling at 2 km or 3 km. over the speed limit. That aggravates many people because they feel they are being short-changed in the context of legislation being introduced in the public interest.

There has been a major problem in recent months getting vehicles through the NCT. People have received penalty points because of a failure to display a valid NCT certificate but if something is not done to address a problem such as this backlog, the Minister has to put his hands up and say he did not have the resources to address that and in the best interests of everyone, take a step back, get it right and then impose whatever sanctions he wants.

I have a major problem with the legislation relating to learner drivers. Every one of us had a provisional licence. At the time, we did not even go to a driving school because as youngsters we probably drove in a field for a while to get used to driving a tractor or a car. We got the feel of a vehicle and when we went on to a road, we were wary of ourselves. However, the statistics highlight that learner drivers are not responsible for the safety issues on our roads. The Minister is from Dublin but he needs to bear in mind that in rural counties such as Mayo, if youngsters get into college in a city, their parents might buy them a car because of the price of accommodation so that they can drive back and forth to their home. The sad reality of regulation gone wrong is that they would be as well off if they never bought the car because they have to jump in the car beside them when they go to college. If someone has ten or 12 lessons done with a driving instructor, he or she should be able to sign a certificate to say the person is fit to drive on the road.

People may be worried about speed when youngsters are starting off. Tachographs and special speedometers were installed in lorries years ago and there is no reason the speed at which a car travels cannot be restricted when people are starting off. It may be a solution rather than putting families to significant expense. They may not be able to afford to send their youngsters to college but they might have a diesel car for them to travel up and down. That would not cost near as much as if they had to take accommodation. We need to examine these issues in a commonsense way.

Another thing that is causing the major problem around this country at the moment is the issue of trailer licences. For 15 or 16 years, they have been going to marts and town. They have been turning, twisting and doing everything one could with the car and trailer. They are now illegal on the road. In the past few weeks, I have seen that gardaí have actually pulled people up and penalty points are involved. These drivers are as good as any one would see but once again, we have gone mad on regulation. We need to think before we do some of those things.

It is worrying thing, particularly in rural parts of Ireland. What is the interpretation of parking in a dangerous place? A farmer could be on the side of a by-road for five minutes looking at cattle. Does a Garda interpret that as dangerous parking? Everyone believes there should be penalty points for driving recklessly. Perhaps a person could pay a fixed penalty charge for the first, second or third times without penalty points. Anyone can make a mistake once or twice but if it keeps recurring, obviously the penalty gets heavier.

In respect of the two points I highlighted, those young people are not reckless. They are trying to start in this world. Many of them are trying to give themselves an education. They are to the pin of their collar trying to finance all of this. We could put a limiter in a car, which can be done as we have done it with the lorries where it has worked successfully. We also need to sort out the issue of trailers. We need to have a bit of common sense about it besides saying that a person got a licence in 1991 and that on 13 September before it, they were sound and could drive away and the gardaí would give them another tick on their licence while if it was a day after that, the gardaí would not give them the tick on their licence. That is regulation gone mad and bureaucracy gone wrong.

I will support the Bill but I ask the Minister as a new Minister to start looking at common sense and not just listen to what somebody who does not understand says. I advise the Minister to ask the likes of the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, because he knows what it is like to live in areas like that. He knows the different problems in different areas of Ireland. The Minister cannot just cater for one section of a community. He must cater for everybody.

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