Seanad debates

Wednesday, 14 May 2003

12:30 pm

Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I hope the Minister can come before the House more often in this session because transport is an area that affects everybody from those who use cars for private use to those involved in the heavy goods transportation sector. In addition, transport impacts hugely on our quality of life and that is why we care so much about its development.

When I saw the wording of the Fianna Fáil motion, I wondered where I could begin to reply to it because it is so open-ended. As an Opposition spokesperson, there is no way I can agree with the motion. However, the Minister should be commended for some of his initiatives. To use a golfing analogy, he may look well teeing off and may have a beautiful set of golf clubs but we must also analyse his follow through. Unfortunately, the Minister and his Government colleagues have been found wanting in the area of transport. The penalty points system has been a success, but it was only introduced in the tenth month of the final year of a five-year road safety programme. I cannot blame the Minister personally for that because he has only recently been appointed to the job, but it is an indictment of the previous Government. Senator Dooley mentioned the good qualities of the Government, but he has missed that point completely.

Serious issues concerning the penalty points system remain to be teased out. The Minister is planning to introduce extra penalty points for driving uninsured vehicles and failing to wear seat belts. However, we have not seen any additional resources being made available for this despite the fact that, as we have heard, the administration of the current system is under severe pressure. I look forward to hearing the Minister explain how he intends to provide the back-up resources required to ensure the full implementation and enforcement of the penalty points system.

We have to learn from other EU countries where the penalty points system is in place. The novelty will wear off after four or five months if the public is not constantly reminded of the need to be vigilant in terms of penalty points. We must learn from the experiences of others.

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