Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

I join Senator Maurice Hayes and Senator Ulick Burke in calling for the intervention of the Minister regarding the recent publication by the NRA of its proposals regarding rest areas on motorways. I have pursued this issue for quite some time with the NRA and have had a number of written contacts with it. It is wholly inappropriate to expect motorists and truck drivers to leave motorways to get services. It is driving trucks into small towns when the rationale behind the construction of bypasses was to make this unnecessary. Far more seriously, it affects motorists.

We all try to get to our destination as quickly as possible and to expect people to leave the motorway for a rest is unacceptable. It is leading to deaths on the roads. I understand that dual carriageways and single carriageways are required to have lay-bys approximately every 15 miles. It is ludicrous that the same rest areas are not present on motorways. At present, a person can drive from the Border to Portlaoise without encountering any road stop. This will lead to deaths on the roads. Recent statistics show that fatigue is one of the growing causes of deaths on the roads. The only way to overcome fatigue is to provide rest areas and stopping areas for people to get rest.