Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will take up the point about the role of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety because it is a very important one. I met Professor Cusack earlier this week, I think, at the transport meeting and had a detailed discussion with him about the data the bureau has. It seems to me that there needs to be far greater co-operation - "contact" is probably the right word - and exchange of information between the two bodies. I think the new machines now being introduced with global positioning system, GPS, functionality and greater detail and the other new systems that have been put in place will make a difference.

I have no doubt that the Deputy will pursue the matter of the delay further and that more information will become available, but my understanding as to the reason for the delay is that the Garda was gathering a vast amount of written, paper-based material from 108 districts, which was very difficult to gather. This is what Assistant Commissioner Finn told me last Monday, and it was repeated this morning. It was when the Garda had finally gathered this material that it was then in a position to compare it with that of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety. I take the Deputy's point that if the Garda had had access to the database earlier or had started the comparisons earlier, perhaps this would have given a more comprehensive picture. He is probably right about that, but my assumption at this point, based on the information I have, is that the Garda was waiting to gather as much material as it could from the paper-based trail in respect of which it was operating.

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