Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Cahill has said most of what I wished to say. I wish to make it clear, and this point has been missed by many, that Fianna Fáil has always taken a strong line on drink-driving. As my colleague said, we introduced mandatory testing and supported the legislation that decreased the blood alcohol limit to one of the lowest in Europe. When I hear some people say that Fianna Fáil will not support legislation because it is in the hands of the publicans or that we are weak on this issue and do not wish to get involved in this debate in case it would annoy publicans and so forth, they could not be further from the truth.

I will describe the lobbying in my constituency. Two publicans mentioned this issue to me, and the Minister will be aware that I represent a very big constituency. I have known one of the publicans all of his life. Either he or members of his family always brought people home at night if they thought they were even one sip over the limit. That point has been forgotten. In many respects, rural publicans looked after their customers in a significant way. I worked in my cousin's bar when I was a youngster. The policy at that time, which is a number of years ago and before there was any legislation such as this, was to get people home safely at night and to take their car keys from them where that was necessary. I saw that happen on many occasions.

This legislation is a huge issue for the fabric of society in rural Ireland. The Minister should examine the drinking habits in rural areas and compare them with those in major urban areas. There is a distinct difference.

I could safely say there is a higher level of drinking in the major urban areas than in rural areas and I will tell Members why. There is a social issue with many of those rural pubs and small businesses in towns. It is a gathering or meeting place. In most circumstances, it does not involve people who want to get plastered every night of the week, although one will always get one or two. As Deputy Cahill said here, it may involve a game of cards or a meeting. I attend a lot of those meetings, political and otherwise. The pub might be the only place in the local area where one can have a meeting. As there may not be a hall or centre, people might use a room in the pub to have a meeting. Again, I would say that the level of alcohol consumption is quite limited.

I will dwell on the issue of enforcement because punishment means little to people if they feel they will not be caught. If they feel they will get away with it, they will not be too concerned. I emphasise we must go back to checkpoints. The introduction of the speed van to catch motorists who were breaking the speed limit was great but a speed van will not catch the drunken driver. This is why we must have more checkpoints if we want to start stamping this out. Our enforcement mechanisms are very poor.

Poor roads constitute another issue that sometimes is not addressed at all in respect of many accidents. Anyone living in a rural constituency like mine will see many roads in a desperate state of repair with bad, sharp bends and with no action being taken to address them. I accept that some have been addressed but in general, it is a matter of concern in many parts of rural Ireland.

I came across a figure while researching this issue that showed that as of this year, the number of gardaí in the traffic corps was just 663, which is a decrease of 400 gardaí. In many respects, people will use the speed van as a way of saying we do not need them but I return to the point I made earlier. We certainly need checkpoints because speed vans will not in any way detect drunken drivers.

Another factor relating to enforcement is the fact that 98% of disqualified drivers fail to return their licences to the Road Safety Authority, RSA, despite being so obliged. As 98% of disqualified drivers still have their licences, if such people are stopped along the roadside and have their licence, they are getting away with it even though they have been disqualified. This can only be described as a disgrace. Fianna Fáil supports increasing the penalties for driving while disqualified. We support increasing the maximum prison sentence from six months to two years and increasing the maximum fine from €5,000 to €15,000. My party believes this will be proper punishment and that we must deal with repeat offenders and have in place strong rules and regulations in this area so they are punished for what they do.

Between 2008 and 2012, 39% of drivers involved in fatal collisions where alcohol was a factor were aged between 15 and 24 years of age. We fail young people by not tackling this issue. We are not getting the message about the dangers of drink-driving through to some young people. I always have been a believer in the education system. If we want to get a message through to young people about drink-driving, we need to get into schools - even national schools - as well as secondary schools. We need to get the message across there.

There are many other things I could say in this regard but Deputy Cahill has covered many of them.

The legislation creates a challenge for rural Ireland. The Minister has spoken in recent times about the Local Link service, which, I acknowledge, is a good system. However, the Local Link service will not leave everyone home up every little highway or byway in rural Ireland because many of those buses cannot get up and down particular roads. That is the immediate problem. While it may solve part of the problem, it will not solve all of it. Will the Minister take into consideration the challenge this creates for rural Ireland? Those of us on this side of the House who genuinely want to stamp out drink-driving, as I am sure all Members do, are making the case that we do not want the total fabric of rural society completely destroyed.

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