Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the debate on the Bill but I do not welcome the reactionary nature of what the Government is doing. It is the hallmark of the Government now that it reacts to everything.

Ar an gcéad dul síos, I sympathise with each and every family affected by road fatalities, none more so than those that occurred last summer in Clonmel, Tiobraid Árann, when four young people went out to celebrate after getting their leaving certificate results, or, indeed, the terrible tragedy a few days later in Cashel involving two grandparents and a child.

I refer to the reaction by the Government, however. Of course, the Government was advised by an NGO. It has NGOs for everything now. It has more NGOs than it has had hot dinners. There are 36,000 of them all together, costing €6 billion a year. This general reaction to bring down the limits from 80 km/h to 60 km/h, 100 km/h to 80 km/h, and 60 km/h and 50 km/h to 30 km/h is utter stupidity.

It looks good and it sounds great for Deputy Eamon Ryan, the Minister for doing nothing only destroying people. He will not listen to anyone. At least some words of common sense were uttered there by Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. Roads are built - and he mentioned a ring road - and if people are going slow, they are going to be in the way for others. It is the same with the N24 from Waterford to Limerick. If speed limits on parts of that road are going to be brought down to 60 km/h, it will cause utter chaos. There will be rear-ending, frustration, people passing in dangerous areas and so on. It is utter madness. It is the same story with the Dungarvan to Clonmel road. It is already at 80 km/h and the Minister is bringing it back down to 60 km/h. We might as well go back to the horse and cart or go back to Bianconi who started in Clonmel with his carriages.

The Government should deal with the real issues. We did not get a bob - phingín amháin - for active travel in Tipperary council yet. The funding this year for national and regional roads has not been announced. It is the latest it has ever been. That announcement is always at the end of January or in early February but here we are, hitting the middle of February and there is no sign of it coming. The Government is all bluster, bluff and codology with all of the schemes it has. It is a wonder Deputy Ó Cathasaigh did not mention breaking the speed limit on his cargo bike. He has an invitation from me to go up the Nire Valley, with me on the basket or the front seat, and see how fast he gets up there. Those bikes will go fast but the Government is not talking at all about the scooters and the yokes in towns, on the footpaths with no high-visibility vests or anything.

The Government has decimated the Garda traffic corps, whom I salute for the job they have to do, going out to fatalities and so on. The corps has been more than halved. In Clonmel at the moment, they are like Dad's Army. They have no squad cars or vans and they are fighting over the cars they do have. It is a shame the way they are under-resourced, as is the lack of gardaí. Ordinary gardaí can police the roads as well, if they are there, but we are short in Tipperary. We had 18 gardaí in Carrick-on-Suir but now there are only four. We had 27 gardaí in Roscrea but now there are only seven. It is the same across Clonmel and Tipperary. We were never as short of gardaí. The Government must resource An Garda Síochána, stop giving the money to Gatso vans in the millions of euro and stop trying to earn fast money with penalty points, which are like cash cow machines. We might as well have tar barrels in the road and hand them in the cash but not do anything for road safety.

The Government needs to get real here. It must get real, use a bit of imagination, make the roads safer and lift the Minister's ban on any motorways or new dual carriageways. He just has a fundamental issue and will not allow them to be developed even though it is well known internationally that roads with a median in them are much safer. Lent is coming and we are already suffering. We will probably suffer even more during Lent. I do not mind a small bit of penance but he is penalising the people of rural and urban Ireland on an hourly basis. The sooner he and this Government are removed from office the better and let them take half of the NGOs and the hangers-on with them. We need to get rid of them as well because they have their fingers around the power. They are in front of the Ministers, behind the Ministers, beside the Ministers and are sitting at the table with the Ministers and dictating policy. It is utter folly.

To reduce speed limits from 80 km/h to 60 km/h and from 60km/h to 50 km/h is just a knee-jerk reaction, so that the Minister can say "I did this". He is going to have the power to change it and to change the fees.

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