Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy about that. I, too, want to see the devices working as soon as possible because I do not want to have to come before the House again and produce figures of that sort. I do not take direct responsibility for the figures but I am unhappy to have to give them to the House, although I will do so whenever Deputies want them. The figures indicate that drivers who do not hand in their licence while disqualified are, on the whole, not prosecuted. I do not know what the effect of that is but some of those people are still driving around. Handing in their licences might not make a blind bit of difference and they might continue to drive around, but they are committing an offence by not handing in the licence, which is in itself unacceptable. If people felt there was a certainty of being prosecuted, it might deter them.

I accept the Deputy's criticisms and that the initiative cannot come a day too early. There are additional gardaí in the traffic corps but not as many as we would like there to be. As he noted, 84 people have died on the roads this year. We should take any measures of the sort he mentioned that contribute towards saving the lives of people. The Deputy's pursuit of the issue is worthwhile and I hope it will bear fruit in the near future.

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