Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said that he is colour blind. I hope he told the licensing authority that because if he has not done so, he will not be insured in a car he might drive. Perhaps now that he is a Minister with his own driver, he does not care about having a licence or not, but fine for him if he does. I put it to the Minister and to all the Deputies in the Chamber that this is the most serious blow to rural Ireland and to people who just cannot manage without a car. If they lose their licence, they will be stranded at home and will be lonelier than ever. I do not believe this will save one life. This is my honest humble belief. A pint or a half pint is certainly not dangerous and people could be under 80 mg. They kind of say that they know that anyway when one looks at England, the North of Ireland and France. Deputy Troy referred to states in America which allow over 80 mg, but we in Ireland are guinea pigs: "Let us test these fellas out and out them off the road; these fellas do not matter."

Reference was made to rural transport and that the Minister would propose the operation of 36 or 38 buses in rural parts of the State. I put it to the Minister that 36 buses or taxis would not do a quarter of Kerry, not to mind the rest of the country. The Minister is only trying to cod the people. That is not what he is actually doing. The people of Ireland know, and the people in rural Ireland know, they are being militated against and that there is no necessity whatsoever for this Bill.

One of my amendments provides that the three penalty points would remain but that if a person was caught or detected in the bracket of 50 mg to 80 mg, he or she would be obliged to undertake ten driving lessons with a qualified driving instructor. This would be beneficial because drivers everywhere need to do refresher courses to keep up with new legislation and new ideas. This measure could benefit people in rural areas. Some people may not come into towns or cities often and it would bring them up to speed about new laws, new systems, new ways of driving and so on. I will be moving that amendment.

The Rural Independent Group members have different amendments. Deputies Mattie McGrath and Michael Collins will deal with amendments Nos. 14 and 17. My amendment is amendment No. 15. It would be beneficial, if we were to go down this route and in the spirit of improvement, for drivers who are detected to have to do ten driving lessons with a qualified instructor. The Minister's proposal for an NCT for tractors will hurt so many people. He has angered and aggravated many people by what he has proposed. I do not know where the Minister is getting his ideas from but if it is from the Department, it is to be regretted. I believe the Minister is on a crusade of his own with regard to the new drink driving penalty. This is to be regretted. No one in any Department, or in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, could suggest it so it must be the Minister's own idea. Given what the Minister did with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone's voting button, it proves that he is very anxious to get this over the line.

A great many cyclists are killed. In the Heritage Bill, we ask that roadside hedges are kept cut all year round because people use the roads all year round. The hedges and briars prevent cyclists and walkers from keeping close to the ditches. In Dublin, there are motorways and the roads are wide. Where I come from, a 3 m road width is about what one gets in the rural countryside and maybe less at times. When the hedge growth goes beyond the yellow line, people are practically walking in the middle of the road and if it is after nightfall and is dark, then pedestrians and cyclists are killed. There is no attempt by the Minister and no interest on his part. The Minister should be the first to go into the Joint Committee on Rural and Community Development to suggest doing something to support us when we look to get these roadside hedges cut, and to keep them cut all year round. There is no accountability. He was out somewhere in the middle of Dublin calling me, Danny Healy-Rae, and his gang terrorists. There is a drainage programme but there is nothing about ponding water, which is taking roads completely over. People are being killed in those instances too. When they meet another car and there is a lake of water in the middle of the road, and one is doing 40 mph or 50 mph, one cannot then see where one is because 20 gallons of water might have gone up on the windscreen. Nothing is being done about that, even on national primary roads. I could take the Minister around Kerry but I will not. He will have to make it himself.

I could go on for the next 20 hours because the Minister is hurting so many people. There is no need for it. He will achieve nothing by it. It is an ego trip by the Minister so that in 20 years' time, he can say Shane Ross did this. That is what he will have to his name. I have talked so much about this because in my heart, I feel strongly about it and regret what he is doing. I will also regret that it will have been in my time here that this happened. I will say to the people of Kerry and all over the rural parts of Ireland that it was not for want of trying. The Minister has the votes and will win it unless he changes his hat or direction and I do not think he will do that. It was not for want of me fighting the Minister. I am sorry that the people of rural Ireland will be hurt. The Minister is the man who is stopping them from having one and a half pints. He is the man who thought of it and Fine Gael supported him. I will never forgive the Minister for it. The people of Kerry will never forgive him and the people in rural Ireland who have no other way to travel but their car will never forget him for it. He will be remembered for that. I do not appreciate it.

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