Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would not dare interrupt you because I was brought up with a thing called manners. It is disgraceful that the Minister is not here tonight and that it is not important enough for his agenda to be here tonight.

I am totally opposed to what is being proposed and I am being backed up by Transport Infrastructure Ireland which conducted an independent survey on the implications of reducing speed. The Government is hiding this fact. TII is saying that it will increase deaths on our roads and will cost €3.8 billion to reduce the speed limits. That is the message that should go out very strongly from here tonight. If the Government gets its way in doing this, it will increase deaths on our roads and will cost us €3.8 billion over a 30-year period. It is not me saying that; it is TII saying that.

Perhaps the Minister of State disagrees. He might disagree with this report. Perhaps that is why the Government is burying the report. What I want from the Government is not a knee-jerk headline reaction like reducing the speed limit and driving people demented on our roads by doing so. I would like the Government to do the practical, ordinary things that we have been asking it to do for a long time - to cut the hedges on the roads, shoot the deer that are meandering onto our roads, take the water off the roads, and make our roads safer to travel.

I know for a fact that on a daily basis Johnny, Maura and Jackie Healy-Rae, the Healy-Rae councillors on Kerry County Council, are continuously highlighting the accident black spots that we have in north, east, south, west and mid-Kerry. These are the problems that we need to be tackled. If the Government tackles those, it will make our roads safer, not telling people that if they are doing 80 km/h they should be doing 60 km/h or if they are doing 100 km/h they should be doing 80 km/h. It is totally crazy what the Government is actually doing. It is going to lead to driver frustration and it will make our roads more dangerous. That has been backed up by reports that the Government is burying and ignoring.

See this speech in context