Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not endorse any form of filibustering and I will only take a few minutes. It is my first time to address this Bill and I will only speak to one point in support of Deputy Robert Troy's comments this evening and over the past number of months. I do not sit on the transport committee or anything like that.

I am no different from any of the other rural Deputies who have come before the Minister to speak. I will keep this short and sweet. Living in rural Ireland, we do not have footpaths or a taxi service, as Deputy Fitzmaurice said. The nearest taxi service to me, believe it or not, is either Ballinasloe or Loughrea. I do not have a taxi service within 25 miles. I do not endorse drink-driving by any manner or means but when the Government wants to bring about provisions like this, supports and services must be put in place first. If we are to follow this through, enforcement will be required but there are not enough personnel on the ground to ensure it can be followed through. Legislation is worthless unless everything is in place to support it. I am referring to the traffic corps, gardaí and community policing, which are scant in my area. In order for Galway to be at a basic minimum, 40 more gardaí are required. That information is not mine but I got it through parliamentary questions in the past two weeks.

I support what my colleague, Deputy Troy, has put before the Minister this evening. It is unfortunate that he has not taken the measure on board and we did not start with compromise by going from three penalty points to five points and a €200 fine to a €500 fine. While we would get the results of such measures, we could have been bringing up the levels of gardaí and putting in the required infrastructure to support the people living in rural Ireland. We have spoken about rural isolation and mental health. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the time to speak.

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