Derek McDowell (Labour)

This is a very important issue and the problem in question must be responsible for a very large number of the accidents. In other countries with single carriageways, there are frequent sections with, say, three lanes, alternating between both sides of the road. There are a couple of examples of this in Ireland, including near Castleisland on the main road to Tralee, and we have some climbing lanes that use this model. If there were such a provision on single-lane carriageways, perhaps every four, five or six kilometres, one would at least be able to overtake. Although the system that obtains in other countries is not within our normal practice and although the Minister may say it would cause confusion, one must realise that our current system is dangerous. Failing the making of every road in the country into a dual carriageway, which nobody expects, some kind of release mechanism is needed.