Joe O'Toole (Independent)

When the Road Traffic Bill 1993 was going through the House, it was introduced by one side of the political spectrum before the Government changed and it was reintroduced by the other side. In both debates, I put down an amendment to the effect that it should not be an offence for a person not to carry his or her driving licence. Despite the Minister of State's point in regard to nominating a Garda station, that was not the point made by Senator Finucane. It is an offence not to carry a licence at all times, even given the back-up option of nominating a station. It is a further offence not to produce the licence some time later.

That one did not have one's driving licence while driving through Newcastle West would mean one was already guilty of an offence. I put this to the then Minister for the Environment, Deputy Michael Smith, during the debate on the 1993 Bill and stated it was a major difficulty. The then Minister replied he could not imagine we would ever make it an offence for someone not to carry his or her driving licence. However, we have done this and people have been arrested for it.

To make matters worse in terms of the issue raised by Senator Dooley, the real problem is that one cannot get a good copy of a driving licence. The raggedy bit of a licence we have does not last any period in one's pocket. I have asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on at least five occasions when he would introduce a credit card-type driving licence. What is the difficulty with this? If this was introduced, we could have a credit card size licence suitable for use in pockets. It is a positive measure which should be introduced immediately. I do not know why it should be delayed.