Results 12,741-12,760 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I have quoted so many figures all of which indicate to me only one thing, which is that the levels of intake of alcohol on the whole impairs driving and costs lives. It costs more lives at higher levels than it costs at lower levels. It still costs lives at lower levels and people should be disqualified at the lower levels. This is the fundamental disagreement we have. I want to...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: That is fine.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I shall go backwards and deal with Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív's questions first. I thank him for his reasoned and eloquent explanation of the views he and many people in rural Ireland hold. His comments were representative of the views of other's. I am not saying he is pleading for it, but we cannot make a different law for rural Ireland than for urban Ireland. I do not see that...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I do not believe it is mine.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I believe my phone is turned off.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: It is not.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív was right about enforcement. That point has been made by many people. Deputies Robert Troy, Kevin O'Keeffe, Catherine Murphy and Imelda Munster also raised it and I accept that it has been a problem. It is a matter for the Department of Justice and Equality. I am not washing my hands of it in any way, but I cannot speak for that Department. What I will...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: Let me finish. Primarily due to the large number of applications, the competition to fill the 2017 cohort has run into 2018 and will be completed in the first quarter, that is, within the next few weeks. The result is that the 2017 and 2018 vacancies will be filled in 2018, with the appointment of a total of 150 members. That is a reversal of what was happening up to the end of 2016....

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I have been breathalysed three times since becoming Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I drive myself because it is a good idea. I do not believe the Garda is targeting me, but I have been breathalysed three times in the past 18 months. People have different experiences, but the position is improving. It may be because I drive on busy roads and Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív does not.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: It could be.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I concede the point made about enforcement. There is a road safety meeting every two months involving the principal stakeholders, namely, the Minister for Justice and Equality, the Attorney General, various other Ministers, the RSA and all other such stakeholders. At every single meeting, the Garda representatives are being put under pressure to say what is happening with the traffic corps...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: The Deputy made a good point. Nobody is arguing that enforcement was adequate up to recently or that the traffic corps is at full strength. It is not. However, in respect of the numbers I gave, 150 is going to be over 10%. I do not know what the up-to-date numbers are today but we will get that in the next-----

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: We will have 150 members by the end of this year. That will be well over 10% per annum. The Deputy questions introducing this legislation without having the enforcement there. Enforcement has been increasing during the passage of this legislation even though the legislation is not even on the Statute Books yet. The increase in the traffic corps, happily, will coincide almost exactly with...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: The morning-after test.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: That was last night's debate. People feel the morning-after test is very unfair but if one is over the limit, one is impaired; it is as simple as that. Therefore, one cannot really make a distinction. Alcohol impairs a driver's judgment and ability to drive. Drivers feel they are okay but they are not; they are impaired. The level is too high and they are still impaired by the alcohol...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: Not before driving.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: It was not my decision and it is not a matter of me reconsidering. It would even be wrong even suggest I should reconsider. As the Deputy will be aware, it is in my constituency as well as hers and I regret deeply the situation. My difficulty is not with addressing the issue which I have done in another context as the Deputy knows but that the amendment has been ruled out of order....

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I share the sentiments expressed by Deputy Catherine Martin, but the amendment was ruled out of order by another person.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Shane Ross: I will deal, first, with the cycling issue raised by Deputies Mick Barry, Robert Troy and Catherine Murphy. The statutory instrument is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and will be brought back, I hope, very shortly, although one can never be certain, but I do not think there are too many complications with it. It will be, as announced, a distance of 1.5 m for those travelling...