Results 6,421-6,440 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: We go down this road all the time and it is extraordinary to hear those words from somebody who conspicuously avoids disqualifying drivers who are impaired to the extent of between 50 mg and 80 mg of alcohol in their system. It is an extraordinary piece of hypocrisy and if the Deputy was genuinely worried, as he says he is, he would favour disqualification. Instead, his amendments avoid the...

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

Shane Ross: Join us and disqualify people. Come over to our side and disqualify people with between 50 mg and 80 mg in their system, because we know they are impaired and cause loss of life. Do not tell people to worry about something else. Join us. I will always discuss any measure that will save lives.

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

Shane Ross: Join us in disqualifying people who have been found to be between the 50 mg and 80 mg, because we know that this level of alcohol costs lives.

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

Shane Ross: We have regularly quoted a lot of figures beyond 2008 to 2012. They relied on-----

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

Shane Ross: Can I quote some to the Deputy now?

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

Shane Ross: Chairman, I am interrupted every time I open my mouth.

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...