Feargal Quinn (Independent)

My attention has been drawn to the national flag by Senators Mooney and McHugh. Where we display the flag we should always do so with respect and honour. In my own business I have always regarded it as something we should not be afraid to use. The point was made to me recently that the lowering of the flag at sunset is a British tradition and is only adhered to in former British colonies. I mention this because I have always made a point of bringing down the flag in our stores at sunset. I am told it is only former British colonies such as the Americas, India and Australia which lower the flag and that in France and Germany it is regarded as disrespectful to lower the flag at sunset. It would be interesting to have a debate on this topic.

I ask the Leader, during the summer, to draw the attention of the various Departments to the lethargy and enthusiasm which seems to exists for using modern technology. We have the opportunity to use it and I have submitted amendments to various Bills drawing attention to its benefits. It is interesting to see that different Departments have different attitudes.

Two pieces of modern technology would be of immense benefit to us and I would like some studies to be carried out into them. The first is electronic tagging, which removes the need to install every convicted person in jail by giving them the option of accepting a tag as an alternative. This would ensure that they adhere to the conditions imposed on them by the court.

The other is a much more interesting and is called the intelligent speed adaptation. There is an interesting article on it in today's Irish Examiner. I mention it because I have experience of a bleeper in a car that lets the driver know when he breaks the speed limit. In Sweden, 10,000 people have volunteered to be guinea pigs in an experiment with this scheme. A Big Brother satellite surveys a person's speed and informs him that he is speeding and adjusts the speed of the car to conform with the speed limit on that road. It is already in place in Victoria, Australia, in Sweden and in a number of other countries. It could not be introduced here immediately but we should study the results if we are to do something about speeding and death on the roads.