Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

New subheads do not cut it. The tragic reality is that people are dying on our roads and the Government is not doing enough to make roads safe and keep them safe for people.

We recognise that the measures the Government talks about regarding road safety, such as decreasing speed limits, may be appropriate in some cases. However, there is too much emphasis on decreasing the speed limits. We need to be considering everything else as well. That needs to be brought to bear. I heard the Minister of State's possible recommendation that we consider increased penalty points at certain times, including weekends. The reality is that if a person is breaking the law at any time, they are breaking the law. It should be recognised that if a person dies tragically as a result of the driving of someone who is intoxicated, the law should be applied. Therefore, the Minister of State's suggestion is a bit of kite-flying, and I do not believe it is an appropriate measure to be talking about. An effort should be made to introduce proper measures that will actually deal with road safety and to put the infrastructure in place to ensure all the bad bends and concealed junctions are dealt with. Up and down the country, local authorities are looking for money to remedy these problems and the Government is very slow to enable the local authorities to do that kind of work.

To return specifically to the motion, the driver testing facility that is in place is not providing a service that is adequate or appropriate considering the number of people who need it. The Government has to come up to the mark and ensure it can provide the service for everyone. There are people waiting for far too long in all areas of the country. Some are waiting up to a year. Saying new staff are being added and that things are progressing is not sufficient, as they are not progressing anything like they need to. We need haste in addressing the issue with the testing of cars.

See this speech in context