Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope it will be. They are truly great people who look after their customers in great style in Castletownbere. I hope to get to the clinic before going to the Boston bar in Bantry.

I asked a question when I had the floor on this matter before. A number of years ago a Minister for Finance, when dishing out his budget, gave an extra allowance to the first two children but none to the third child through child benefit. The question asked at the time was what had the third child ever done to the Minister in school. What did the people of rural Ireland ever do to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport that he feels the need to bring forward this Bill? Perhaps he has no idea of the hurt this is causing in rural Ireland, but he probably does. I thank him for visiting many community organisations in west Cork. We did not even raise the issue of the drink driving Bill, but they brought it up with us. It is the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill or whatever else one might call it, but it is the drink driving Bill as far as the people of west Cork are concerned. No voice in all of the groups met by the Minister said it was a great idea. They all said to him not to dare to go ahead with it as it would cause ruin in rural Ireland. I can give one example of a bar in west Cork. I received the following email the other day and it is only right that I read it as it is very relevant. It reads:

Today is a sad day in a rural area in west Cork. We had a lease for a little bar in Ballylickey for the last four and a half years. We had a very good business built up here, with food, accommodation and bar. All for both tourists and locals.

When we took on the lease, I decided we needed a little minibus, an eight-seater, which we bought to collect customers and drop them home, as for us, we would not get taxis out here, which we felt was not a problem. We have our own bus, which did very well. It brought out the elderly people from their homes to meet with other people.

We are sad to say today we close the bar as we find the Garda checkpoints the morning after are very unfair. It has frightened these people in the rural area even to drive to mass on a Sunday morning. They do not know and nor do I know if they are over the legal limit even though our last bus leaves our pub at 1 a.m.

The email continues:

I would like you to say this to minister Shane Ross. Come and live in west Cork for a week and just see what he is destroying to rural Ireland.

We had 12 local people employed. That's a lot in a rural area to find employment again. Thank you for taking time reading this message.

That was sent to me by a person who ran the Bridge Bar in Ballylicky, Bantry. That person ran a truly good bar, put the customer first and cared for customers such that they would not be seen to be drinking and driving home afterwards and now the bar is gone, no matter what effort was made for it. I asked a question when I spoke here last time about the rural-proofing of this Bill. I heard the Minister's speech. I was not in the Chamber when he was speaking but I was in my office in Leinster House and I carefully listened to what he had to say. When I spoke afterwards, I said that rural-proofing has turned out to be the biggest cod that was ever mentioned in this Dáil. Rural-proofing is resolving an issue before it comes ahead of the people. The Minister said in his speech that he was rural-proofing this Bill and that he was meeting organisations. He named a number of them and they were good, decent organisations, and he said he would meet them again. That is not rural-proofing. The Minister was meeting them and telling them what he was going to do. Nothing was put in place. Who is going to take the people from the surrounds of the Bridge Bar in Ballylicky to and from the pub? As nothing has been put in place for them, they have to stay at home. Addressing rural isolation has gone out the window. I ask the Minister, before this Bill goes any further, to prove that proper rural-proofing has been done for it and if there has not, the Bill should be put in the bin until a proper transport service is put in place to rural-proof it.

I mentioned the Leinster House bar in my speech here the last day and I will mention it again. If the Minister wants to show an example to the people of rural Ireland about drinking and the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill, start here by example and close the bar here. That is where the Minister should start by example to show that he is equal. The Proclamation of the State says "Irishmen and Irishwomen". It does not say "Urban men and rural men" but "Irishmen and Irishwomen". Stand by the people in the Proclamation and stand over it. Rural Deputies, I was told by a speaker here, will be jumping up and down about this Bill. Of course we are because we live in and see every day what is happening in rural Ireland and this is a further infliction on the people of rural Ireland. A person that has a couple of pints drives home quite safely and has done so with no problem and is suddenly a criminal.

There are many reasons for deaths on our roads. One of the biggest I see is roadside trees. Why are we not putting forward a Bill or an instruction to the local authorities to fell every roadside tree over 2 m long? That would lead to a guaranteed saving of life. We have seen that there has been a loss of life due to overgrown trees. That is an issue that would get complete support in this country, including in rural Ireland, and I urge the Minister to look into that in particular. I have mentioned and shown to the Minister the issue with roads in west Cork and given him the opportunity to put forward funding for them. I have not seen what I would call proper funding for the N71, the R585 or the R586 since I was a child, which is a long time ago. The bottom line is that they are impassable and in some ways impossible to drive on. There is where there would be a saving of lives on our roads. I could take a person from the parish that I am from, Goleen, on the main road to Cork, and that person would have an exciting time, with the length of time it would take, the roughness and the conditions of the road. There is no place to pass cars which causes frustration for people trying to carry out their daily lives and daily work. I plead with the Minister to give proper funding for the roads in west Cork about which I am speaking.

To return to the Bill, rural isolation leads to mental health issues. Where in the Bill is the problem of rural isolation tackled? It will lead to further rural isolation. Think about it. How do those living in the countryside surrounding Durrus, Mizen Head, Castletownbere, Clonakilty and Bandon come and go from their community? Many collect their pension on a Friday and might like to have a pint or two, but they are petrified to do so. They have never caused anyone a problem in their life or broken the law. This will not be breaking the law, but it will make them look like criminals from now on. There is no transport service available and there is no point in me trying to bluff the Minister that there is. In my rural community the bus service to Cork leaves at 7 a.m. and returns at 8 p.m. If local people are not up at 6 a.m., they will have to stay in their houses. They are now not able to drive and enjoy a little a social outing.

Young people are plagued. They cannot get to do the driving test. The backlog is frightening. As we have no transport service available, how are they supposed to get out and about? The cost of motor insurance and motor tax is breaking them. Everything is being built against the rural person. Will the Minister re-examine the Bill and rural proof it? If he was to rural proof it properly, I would stand behind him. However, I will not for now. We are told that the vintners are against it. Of course, they are against it. They provide thousands of jobs for people living in rural areas. We should stand by them and not against them. Will the Minister consider them? The Bill will lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs all over the country.

I hear that the tax payments will pass through the Minister's office. I hope he will take the opportunity to allow people to tax their cars through post offices. We are losing our post offices, pubs, banks, creameries and churches. People are also leaving. There is nothing for young people in rural parts of Ireland. Why would they stay? They cannot have a drink, socialise or go anywhere. I ask the Minister to reconsider because it would be a great turnaround and boost the people living in rural parts of Ireland.

The Bill has not been rural proofed. There is no point in the Minister saying he is due to meet groups next week or the week after. The Bill should have been rural proofed before it reached the floor of the Dáil. Where a Minister says an issue has been rural proofed but it has not, the Bill should be binned immediately. That is where this Bill should be.

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