Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Many have spoken on it and on the issue of drink-driving. If one spoke to everybody in this House regarding drink-driving, one would realise each knows somebody who died from it. Unfortunately, I know people who have died from it. If this Bill saves one life, it will be worth it.

Unfortunately, many people are killed on our roads every year. Last year, in the region of 157 to 160 people died. Many of these deaths were not due to drink-driving. Many were because of young people driving at speed and because of people losing control of their cars. Many of the Road Safety Authority messages on the television at night are about people who use their phone when driving. There are many reasons people get killed on our roads. In some cases, deaths are attributable to the state of the roads in the countryside.

With this Bill, the Minister is trying to do what he believes is right, that is, reduce the number of deaths on our roads. This should be achieved in conjunction with implementing other measures. There should be more policing. I believe many more people are killed on the roads due to speed and using mobile phones, particularly for texting. One loses sight of what one does when using a phone to send text messages.

Unfortunately, in rural Ireland we do not have a proper public transport system. When the Minister is summing up and taking Committee and Report Stages of this Bill, I urge him to come up with a scheme that could provide some sort of transport service in rural areas. People living in major towns and cities do not have to worry about this Bill because they have public transport. They can get on the bus at 7 p.m. and come home at 9 p.m. after a few drinks. Unfortunately, in rural Ireland we do not have a public transport system. In conjunction with the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport should consider putting a scheme in place so publicans could provide a transport system that would enable customers to be brought home after going out to enjoy a drink, particularly at the weekends. Perhaps the car provided by the publican could be exempt from vehicle registration tax or road tax, or some sort of grant scheme could be put in place to allow somebody to drive people home in the rural countryside.

Rural towns and villages are suffering. Many local GAA clubs are not able to field a hurling or football team due to emigration. Recently, a gentleman in north Connemara told me some parishes there cannot field a GAA team. Perth in Australia, however, which had not one single GAA team seven years ago, now has nine.

When I was 19 years of age, I got my first job and bought my first car. My father, in his later years, used to love to go out for a few pints every evening at 7 o'clock. I used to pick him up to bring him home around 9.30 p.m. or 10 o'clock. I would not only just bring home my father but give a lift to five other elderly people who had been in the pub. I could do that at the time. Unfortunately now however, there are not many young people in many towns and villages who can offer that service to bring home a few elderly people who might want a few pints in the evening. Will the Minister examine some sort of a scheme which could give back to rural areas?

Some Members spoke about the cause of traffic accidents on rural roads. If one looks at the side roads and byroads, the briars and bushes cannot be cut until certain times of the year. This also causes accidents and needs to be examined.

Will the Minister look at some scheme to keep pubs in rural areas open? For many elderly people living in rural areas, the only person they might meet is the postman delivering the mail or when they go to Sunday mass. I know of one instance of an individual who used to pick up his pension, regular as clockwork at 2.30 p.m. every Tuesday, at his local post office, have a few pints and then drive home. One Tuesday, he did not collect his pension. The postmistress called the local gardaí who went to his house to discover he had fallen and broken his hip. Will the Minister look at a scheme, along with the Minister for Finance, whereby several publicans could buy a car, which would be exempt from the VRT, to transport people in rural areas to the local pubs?

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