Results 8,141-8,160 of 15,510 for speaker:Brendan Griffin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: I would imagine the reason the Minister has the highest rate of payment with the penalty points and fine option and the lowest rate with the option with the higher off-the-road period is not a coincidence. It is something that needs to be factored in by both the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. If one has 20% more court cases in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: I am conscious the Minister was adamant that the punishment for drivers in the 50 mg to 80 mg category needs to increase but I wonder was there any consideration given in the regulatory impact analysis to increasing the penalty points. It is three penalty points at present. Would the Minister consider increasing it to something like six points or eight points and, therefore, trying to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: The basis for this is the Minister wants to disqualify drivers who kill people on the roads.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: Speeding is a massive killer on the roads-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: -----yet the number of disqualifications for speeders is so much lower than the number of disqualifications proportionately for drivers who are drink driving. Has the Department, for example, considered an automatic disqualification if someone is driving 20 km/h or 30 km/h over the limit anywhere? Would that not be more effective? Considering the statistics - looking at the three...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: I am trying to thrash out here how one arrives at what is the priority and what has the greatest impact in as short a period of time as possible. I am merely saying that, looking at the analysis - I do not want in any way to sound crass or to deviate from the point that every life lost is one too many - I am not entirely convinced that the Minister's most effective measure is to target the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: When one speaks to people in terms of overall fatalities, speed is the ultimate killer here. We do not seem to be tackling that with a similar zero-tolerance approach, even though it is a bigger killer. That is the point I am making. I am not condoning one over the other or saying one is less important in terms of the lives lost, I am just asking if the Minister's approach should not be to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: The Minister is basing his reasoning for prioritising this on there having been a reversal of a trend. There has not been a reversal, it is a deviation. As the Minister knows well, I showed how the figures for 2012 - when we had the safest year on the roads - were actually far higher in the number of fixed penalty notices served on those in the 51 to 80 years cohort than they were last...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: The point I am making is that it merits a regulatory impact analysis to the same extent that the measure at hand has had. The benefits would be far greater in light of the fact that the fatalities relating to speeding offences are far higher in the context of those readings. The Minister referred to the Behaviour & Attitudes survey. Does he have the figure for those answering...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: Obviously, we want the specific phraseology of how the questions were posed. It is important that we would have the figures for those answering "don't know".

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: Does the Minister have a breakdown for the rural versus urban and the motorists versus non-motorists.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: Is there a breakdown in respect of motorists and non-motorists?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: The regulatory impact analysis, RIA, indicates that there will be no impact on those who are socially excluded, vulnerable groups, economic markets or rural communities. However, those consulted were Department of Justice and Equality, An Garda Síochána, the RSA and the high-level road safety group. I am curious how that assertion can be made in the RIA without consultation with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: I have acknowledged that. What I am saying is that there was no impact assessment in respect of rural dwellers, with people involved in the tourism industry, or, for example, vulnerable or older people. That has not been done and yet there is a statement in the analysis that there will be no impact on them. How can the Department say that there will be no impact without consulting with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: What about the ones I mentioned?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: I know but then would it be better for the Department to refrain from saying there will be no impact on those people if they have not been consulted?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: I ask the Minister to provide those figures for post-October 2010 fatalities. The breakdown of the 16 fatalities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty - Drink Driving) Bill 2017: Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (5 Apr 2017)

Brendan Griffin: The Deputy should conclude.