Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I got a picture message of a box about the size of the Chair's desk with a "Do Not Touch" sticker on it. It was drug testing equipment but it could not be touched because none of the gardaí had been trained to use it. What is the Minister doing about drug-driving? I do not condone it. When he replies, I want the Minister to tell me what is being done about drug-driving. How many testers are being used? A couple of years ago, there were none because the legislation had only been passed. Fair play is fine play with me but there is not fair play. This is a soft touch and it is easy to get this legislation through without doing an impact assessment on what will happen to rural Ireland.

We will have multiple parishes with one parish priest. He will not be able to say the second mass because, as the House will know, in the Catholic Church, priests have to consume wine. The limit will be so low that he will not be able to say the second mass unless someone collects him and brings him. That is not a joke; that is a fact. With the diminishing number of priests in our diocese and in other dioceses around us, there are not enough priests to say multiple masses.

I was responsible for setting up Ring a Link, which has done Trojan work for rural transport. We had a launch a year after it started and we had letters from people who said it was like opening the gates of Mountjoy and being released. These people in rural Ireland have no access to any transport. Even if they could afford a taxi, there is none available. I could not get a taxi in many towns in Tipperary at the weekend because the drivers will only do short runs, and they cannot be blamed for that. They do not work on Sunday or Monday nights because the business is not there. The Minister could do an awful lot and he should look at this area.

The night I drove him around the scenic Glen of Aherlow, I showed him all the pubs that have closed in the past ten years from the Lady Gregory to the Silver Sands to the Cosy Kitchen to the Foot Bar to the Caravansary to the Glen Hotel and back to O'Heney's in Bansha. These business people were paying rates and employing staff. This is a huge attack on rural Ireland. The pub was the centre of activity, and not just for drinkers. I know many people who go to the pub and who do not drink at all. It is a social occasion and they have meetings, funeral afters and so on. A number of us in the Rural Independent Group will press the question to a vote later and we will table amendments on Committee Stage to go back to the drawing board with the legislation.

I ask the Minister to please look at road blocks. I did not even mention Galway where one cannot get from one side of the city to the other. Deputy Eamon Scanlon referred to the N4 and the blockages over the years. The congestion in Dublin causes a great deal of frustration for businesses and motorists as they try to drive from A to B. There is a huge volume of work to be done. I ask the Minister to go back to the drawing board and work with us. I resent the fact that he said we are working at the behest of the vintners. I am not raising these issues at the behest of any vintner and I do not have a vested interest. I do not have a pub, I never owned a pub and I do not ever intend to have a pub, but I frequent many of them for clinics and social activities and they are all run by business people whom I want to support.

The Minister should ensure a level playing field. Drug testing should be rolled out because the effects of drug taking are much more serious but Deputy Harty could explain that better.

The final issue I would like to raise relates to the waterways. I raised the issue of two young men from Golden in Tipperary who lost their lives off Helvick Bay a few years ago. There is no policing on the waterways. People are driving all kinds of vehicles.

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