Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Reference has been made to cyclists. Everyone respects cyclists, but we need to have a common-sense approach to all of this. Deputies might not be aware that there is machinery in rural parts of Ireland that is 7 ft. or 8 ft. wide. A mower might be 10 ft. wide. Someone driving one of these vehicles might struggle to go down a road, even if he or she does not meet anyone on the road. If we tell such a driver to keep 1.5 m away from someone, he or she will have to bust ditches in everyone's fields to get down the road. This is an example of the stupidity of people who do not understand that a motorway is one width and a secondary road is another width. A bóithrín might be just 2.5 m in width. If it is 3 m in width, it is nearly a wide one. Many of them are 10 ft in width. We are talking about machinery going down such roads. To put it very simply, any low loader is 8 ft wide. One uses one's head when one meets such a vehicle coming along the road. One stands and one allows them to go by. There is no need to put rules on such encounters. One does not drive on in a way that means the driver of the other vehicle has to go up on top of a ditch. We cannot legislate for some of this stuff. Those who are used to driving on the N11, where there is a lot of traffic and many cyclists, should be aware that they will not see roads of the same width when they travel to other parts of the country. We have to make sure we do not get carried away with ourselves. When we go on a roll with things in here, it can be like a wave bringing us along. Sometimes we have to make a stand and show some common sense.

My amendment and that of Deputy Troy are quite similar. I have no problem if his amendment is taken first or is given precedence because it has been tabled on the same basis. We are saying that the fine and the number of penalty points should be increased. We have to be mindful of the amount of rural isolation that has unfortunately developed. It is biggest issue I have with this Bill. There are many elderly people in rural areas. They are lovely people who worked throughout their lives. When I speak to them, they tell me they like to go to the local pub to have a chat with everyone over two little glasses. I was talking on Sunday to a person who came to Dublin with me. He went to a pub with his brother, who had gone away for a good few years. He looked back at his brother and he said that publicans here should be paid for what they are doing in addition to selling drink. He responded by asking: "Are you off your head or what is wrong with you?" The people in that pub probably saw nobody all week before they came in to have a little chat. The word "inclusion" comes to mind. There are day care centres doing great work in a similar vein, but Saturday or Sunday night is the night. It is not as if these people are going to the pub seven nights a week.

I worked in pubs when I was a youngster to keep myself in pocket money. I served people who used to go through everything that was happening in the country. When the 9 o'clock news came on, they asked for silence. That was their life. They were happy. The problem now is that they are afraid when they hear of the likes of this. Their fear is the fear of what might happen. I think it is sad. I was talking to an 85 year old person the other day. He told me he can go nowhere now. It is probably a sad reflection.

If the Minister does not want such people to go anywhere in their cars, we should at least make sure that before we put that fear into them, we provide a solution so they can say this new thing is great or the man in the pub will bring them home. That is the problem. The Minister might ask why the Government should provide a rebate on vehicle registration tax. Some of them provide a service as two, three or four people in a rural pub would hardly pay for the electricity bill, never mind make money. Those people in the evenings open up. Anybody in any part of rural Ireland sees this. From Monday to Thursday, at least, those publicans do a service for their community by opening. They might make a few pounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night but if there are two or three people looking in, they will not make money. It is something we do not appreciate.

If we had a system to offer people something, there would be some bit of hope in trying to resolve the matter. The Minister should bear in mind what I said earlier about the taxis being 15 miles away. If a person rings a taxi and tells that driver to pick up Johnny in the pub, who is on his own 15 miles away, what would it cost? More people will now drink at home and end up not talking to anybody. In fairness, in rural parts of the country we are trying to get people to go to different places for social inclusion.

What has been threatened for young drivers should be wiped away. I do not know why we must be heavy-handed in threatening decent people who never put a foot wrong in their life with jail. I heard a new idea from an insurance company for drivers of facing down their phones in exchange for an incentive. It is proactive and it will probably help. The company monitors phone use and people can gather points in exchange for a discount in insurance. Fair play to whoever is doing it. Speed limiters were also suggested but nobody bothered with them. That process might be trickier but if insurance companies had been consulted, they would have helped. In fairness to youngsters, they are proactive.

The Minister might think this is a vendetta by eight or ten Deputies but it is not. Our job is to listen to what we hear on the ground. It is about representing what we hear and being a Teachta Dála is to be the voice of the people. We are hearing that the heavy hand is coming at rural Ireland every day of the week. Unfortunately, it is putting people into their own homes morning, noon and night. It appears they should stay there. There is a fear of somebody catching them at night or the following morning, which is the problem. Solutions needed to be added to this before this legislation was introduced. I suppose when one does not live in the environment where solutions are needed, they will not come. When one sees a bus flying up and down the road until midnight or 1 a.m., one probably does not know what it is to be without a bus.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle said we are discussing amendments Nos. 4 to 21. I will support many of them. I know the Minister will table an amendment relating to young drivers and my understanding is they will not be jailed or the car will not be taken from them. What else will not be done? Will those drivers still be done despite the State failing to give them a test? That needs to be clarified. There are people living in different parts of the country and I hope we do not put more fear into them.

I have some final comments. The Minister may bring in all the legislation in the world he wants in any Department but the bottom line is it costs the Government if it wants to enforce that legislation. It costs the Government because of policing. It is no good telling somebody we brought something down or people are off the road if there is nobody to look for them. The Government and its predecessor has failed to sustain the numbers in the traffic corps. The Government might be trying to kid the people but it will not kid everyone.

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