John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I read in one of today's newspapers about the conditions in which the State pathologist operates. According to the article, her accommodation is a pre-fabricated building in south County Dublin. It is time that accommodation is improved for someone who holds such an onerous and important position and deals with over 230 suspicious deaths every year.

Senator Quinn is quite correct to comment on road deaths. Over the past weekend there was a significant number of deaths. Continual attempts are made to tackle road safety by high level promotional gimmicks, such as advertising on television and other media yet there seems to be very little emphasis on the standard of driving. I urge the Leader, as a former Minister for Public Enterprise, encompassing transport, to speak to her esteemed successor, with a view to overhauling the driving test, about which he has spoken on several occasions. Will she also discuss with him the possibility of updating the system whereby driving instructors are registered? There are many registered instructors but there are also many cowboys in the business who give the other instructors a bad name. It is time, in light of the increased road deaths, that we seriously consider driver education.