Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 3: To ask the Minister for Transport when he intends to implement a single body with ultimate responsibility for road safety. [35795/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The road safety authority will be the single body with responsibility for road safety. Work on the process of establishing the authority is well advanced in my Department.

The authority's functions will include those undertaken by my Department relating to driver testing, driver licensing, vehicle standards, certain functions relating to the road haulage industry, the road safety functions undertaken by the National Safety Council and certain functions relating to accident research and statistics undertaken by the National Roads Authority. The authority will also have responsibility for the regulation of driving instruction, the introduction of compulsory basic training for motorcyclists and the introduction of vocational training for professional drivers in the transport industry.

The Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 has completed Second Stage in the Dáil. Amendments to the Bill are being drafted to give effect to the wider functions being assigned to the authority and the Bill is to be renamed the Road Safety Authority Bill 2004.

A project team is in place in my Department to progress the establishment of the authority. Issues relating to staffing, the organisational structure and the financial arrangements for the new authority are being dealt with by the project team in consultation with the staff associations and the Department of Finance.

I expect that the authority will be established on a statutory footing in 2006. However, in the interim I am arranging that the necessary structures be developed with the support of the acting chief executive who has already been appointed. Pending the establishment of the authority, I propose to appoint an interim board shortly to facilitate the transitional phase of the establishment process.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister referred to 2006 but can he tell us whether the authority will be established early in that year? We are all conscious, particularly at this time of the year, of carnage on the roads and in recent weeks there have been a high number of road deaths.

In bringing all the bodies together, we must be conscious of the need to target different types of road accidents. In that context, the Minister has spoken in the past of a dedicated traffic corps. Does he see that as part of the bringing together of various road safety bodies? Will the road safety authority have any role in the proposed dedicated traffic corps?

There is more traffic on the roads and people are more stressed as a result. How does the Minister see the authority functioning? How many people does he envisage will be on the board, how often will it meet and to whom will it report directly? Will it be a separate body and will Deputies be able to ask questions of the Minister relating to the authority?

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy asked if we will see the road safety authority early in 2006 and the answer is "Yes". The amendments are with the Parliamentary Counsel. I hope the process is completed as soon as possible and it is my intention to return to the House with all of the amendments in 2006, prior to which I will forward them to all Opposition spokespersons for their perusal but their content has been well flagged.

A project team is working through some of the issues of scale and resources raised by the Deputy which will become clear when I receive the report and introduce the Bill. I also want to set up the board on an interim basis to begin working through some of the issues involved. I also wish to complete the discussions on the backlog in driving tests in the next 18 months.

The Garda traffic corps is the responsibility of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and an integral part of the road safety strategy. I announced yesterday that the Garda Commissioner intended to increase the number in the corps by 50% in 2006, which I welcome. The corps will make a significant contribution to road safety but has no functions directly related to the Road Safety Authority. In their primary function as gardaí, members of the corps come under the aegis of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.