Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach’s answer. We have heard often from people in the Road Safety Authority, RSA, about the absolute necessity for additional invigilation. The chairperson of the RSA referred to the European driver attitudes survey which showed that people in this country are half as likely to be stopped in a mandatory alcohol testing, MAT, check, now a mandatory intoxicant testing, MIT, check as people in the rest of Europe. This is an operational matter for the Commissioner.

I commend the Commissioner on waiving fees for documents for families of victims of road traffic crashes. Those fees were incredibly high. Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner to bring the traffic corps back up to strength? There is a strong case for perhaps making it a distinct unit with a separate command within An Garda Síochána. Will he ask the Department of Justice and Equality which has been dragging its heels, and the Courts Service, about IT systems and the transfer of information to the RSA and to bring in the legislation we need? The section 44 I referred to is on the clár. It is the Courts Bill and if we wanted to we could have it passed before Christmas.

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