Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

The Minister has made a good start on a number of the proposals he has brought to bear. However, Senators on the other side of the House should note the penalty points system was not his initiative but was produced by the Government in 1998. The Government's response to Dr. Bacon's report on the issue, outlined by the then Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, former Deputy Molloy, promised the penalty points system would be operational by 2000. It is a matter of fact that the system came into operation two years late.

When the penalty points system was introduced in the latter part of last year, a major effort was made by the Garda Síochána and all the relevant authorities to make it work. This had a dramatic effect on driving behaviour, particularly in the three or four months after October. Unfortunately, the position has since deteriorated as the old, pathetic driving habits, which caused carnage for many years, returned to the roads, precisely because we do not have the same level of high profile enforcement we had in the final three months of 2002. The Government must take direct responsibility for this – the issue at the heart of Senator Browne's amendment – and Senators on the Government side should address it in the course of their contributions.

During the six day period of the most recent public holiday some three weeks ago, 19 lives were lost, the worst figure for a long time. Other Ministers, notably the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, share responsibility for this issue. A co-ordinated effort at ministerial level is required. Widespread enforcement, not just by the Garda but also through the Minister's idea of a traffic corps, is the only way to make the system work. What has happened to this idea? It is only sensible to have a dedicated corps of officers directly responsible for constantly enforcing the penalty points system on the highways and byways. What are we doing to implement this proposal, which is one aspect of the amendment and an issue to which Senator Browne rightly referred? If we are serious about enforcement, we have to consider the fact, revealed in the other House last week, that just three speed cameras are operating at any one time in the country and a total of 20 boxes are in place in four counties around Dublin.