Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

This debate comes at a time when we face major challenges in the pursuit of our road safety policies. Road safety is an evolving area of public policy. Improvements in road network standards and vehicle engineering can, on the one hand, enhance road safety and, on the other hand, establish a false sense of security that blinds us to the need for constant care.

The major challenge to the Government and society in general, in terms of road safety, arises from changes in expectations. When we had poorer roads and far fewer and technically inferior vehicles in the 1960s and 1970s, the annual number of road deaths often exceeded 600. Now in an environment featuring levels of motorisation that were unimaginable 40 years ago, the picture is somewhat different. My Department's aims for the immediate future are set at reducing road deaths to a level of no more than 300 per year. Society demands that the daily reality of deaths and injuries on our roads must be addressed and the carnage curtailed. In that context, I welcome most of the contributions to this debate, which reflect that demand.

Similar demands for action to address road casualties were prevalent in the late 1990s. The response by the Government in 1997 was to adopt a strategic model based on achieving targeted reductions in deaths and injuries through the pursuit of targeted advancements across a range of policy areas. A significant feature of the first national strategy on road safety was the creation of the road safety high level group, which was tasked with overseeing the delivery of the programme that had been adopted in a co-ordinated way. The high level group was asked to monitor and report on progress achieved, recommend adjustments to the strategy and prepare proposals for future strategies for Government approval.

An international expert on road safety was engaged to examine the strategic model that was put in place in 1997. He confirmed that the approach adopted and the oversight regime and reporting mechanisms that had been established provided a robust model for the pursuit of road safety policy. Reflecting on the past eight years during which those structures have been in place and a second national strategy has been developed, it is clear that there has been a significant degree of success. Casualty trends have been relatively consistent and significant advances are evident when one reflects on the fact that the average number of road deaths over the past four years was 374, compared with the average annual level for the previous four years of 440.

However, the capacity for road casualties to fluctuate dramatically is evidenced by the fact that as of yesterday, the number of road deaths this year is 20 higher than on the same day last year. The task of realising the target set in the road safety strategy of reducing road deaths to a level of not more than 300 per annum by the end of next year can be placed in sharp focus by the trends revealed so far this year.

It is appropriate that I should report to the House on the progress achieved to date with our strategy. There are a number of key policy initiatives set out in the strategy, on which the achievement of further reductions in road deaths rely. These initiatives relate primarily to the adoption of a new structure for speed limits based on metric values, the establishment of a dedicated traffic corps, the extension of the penalty points system, the introduction of a network of privately operated speed cameras and the extension of the basis on which a breath test can be requested by the Garda Síochána.

The Government introduced a revised speed limit structure expressed in metric values in January 2005. The legislative basis for this system was provided for in the Road Traffic Act 2004. The changeover process involved a major public information campaign as well as the posting of some 58,000 road signs signalling the new speed limits. The changeover went very smoothly and represents a good example of national and local authorities working together with a common aim. From the road safety perspective, the revised system provides for a reduction of 16 km in the speed limit on regional, rural and local roads.

The new legislation confirmed the central role of the elected members of county and city councils in making determinations for changes to the speed limits that are applied under the legislation and gave them the capacity to deploy a greater range of speed limit values, including the 30 km/h limit. The system is further improved by a facility for public engagement in the process of local authorities making speed limit changes.

One of the most important elements of any road safety policy is enforcement. The efforts of my colleague the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Commissioner to radically step up enforcement are vital to success in the road safety arena. The Commissioner has placed the new Garda traffic corps under the supervision of one of his most senior officers of Commissioner rank, as a signal of the intent of the force to bear down on enforcement. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is adamant that the very significant increases in the strength of the traffic corps planned for the next few years will proceed and that the corps will not lack for any technical resources. The Minister and the Commissioner will have my full support and any policy or legislative assistance I can give them in their efforts.

The traffic corps currently stands at 560, and will comprise some 800 officers by the end of next year. In the latter half of 2007, there will be 1,000 gardaí deployed to the traffic corps. The increased enforcement should have a significant deterrent effect on drivers' behaviour. This is crucial to an improved road safety performance and is an initiative which I very much welcome.

In my recent contributions before the Oireachtas Joint Committees on Transport and Enterprise and Small Business, I expressed my disappointment that we were not in a position to see an application of the penalty points scheme to other key road safety offences in addition to speeding, seat-belt wearing, driving without insurance and careless driving.

The legislation underpinning the system has been in place since 2002. The speed of the roll-out has not been satisfactory and this has blunted the potential of the system to deter drivers from the very behaviour that gives rise to collisions. It is my understanding that the IT systems and other administrative support mechanisms will be in place by the beginning of April 2006 and that the major extension planned for the operation of the system can be put in place at that point. My colleague the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, is in regular contact with the Garda Commissioner on the issue of meeting that target date.

The road safety strategy identifies the introduction of a significant network of speed cameras as a central component in addressing speed limit breaches. The Minister for Transport proposes to bring forward, early in the new year, an amendment to primary legislation to enable the engagement of the private sector in the widespread deployment, under strict Garda supervision, of speed cameras. A working group, established to examine the general framework within which this proposal can be pursued, acknowledged that it would be necessary to engage private sector interests if we were to reach the critical mass required to establish the level of enforcement of speeding that will support the achievement ofthe enforcement targets in the road safety strategy.

I take this opportunity to reassure the House that the operation of the system will be grounded firmly in road safety considerations. The Garda will be responsible for choosing locations where cameras will be placed, and such decisions will be based on collision history and prevalence of speeding. The working group has also recommended that there can be no relationship between the receipt of fixed charge payments resulting from detections by privately-operated cameras and the funding of the private sector operator.

There has been much debate recently on the possible introduction of random breath testing. The road safety strategy provides that random breath testing should be in place before the end of 2006. I and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, have pursued a detailed examination of the possible approaches that could be adopted here to give the Garda greater powers to impose roadside breath tests. This examination has been informed and supported by the receipt of independent legal opinion and the opinion of the Attorney General. In examining this issue it is important that a balance be struck such that measures aimed at reducing road fatalities which are clearly for the common good are proportional in that they have proper regard to the legal rights of the individual. However, the protection of the community from individuals who abuse those rights must inform our examination of this issue.

The Minister for Transport recently met with the chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and party spokespersons for a discussion focused solely on the issue of random breath testing, at which he outlined the legal concerns as he understands them. He is endeavouring to work with colleagues in the committee to try to find a solution to this issue, which crosses party boundaries.

If, however, we cannot legislate for wider roadside breath tests, I point out that as things stand, gardaí can require a driver to provide a preliminary breath sample where they form an opinion that an intoxicant has been consumed, or where a collision has taken place, or where a road traffic offence has been committed. I am sure that the Garda Síochána will continue to pursue drink driving enforcement robustly through the range of powers available to it. I recently discussed the issue with the superintendent of the greater Dublin area, who brought to my attention that road deaths and serious accidents in the area are down and detection of drink driving is on the increase. It shows that gardaí are out there and applying the relevant Road Traffic Acts with success.

The process of establishing the road safety authority is well advanced. The Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 which has completed Second Stage in the Dáil is the legislative basis for establishing the authority. When the Bill was introduced its principal purpose was to establish a driver testing and standards authority whose primary responsibility would be the delivery of the driver testing service and the regulation of driving instructors. The authority would also have a statutory duty to promote the development and improvement of driving standards. However, the functions to be assigned to the authority were reviewed and I indicated during the Second Stage debate and at committees that the establishment of a separate public sector body to deliver the driver testing service and take responsibility for other functions relating to the testing and control of drivers, offered an opportunity for other functions relating to roadsafety in general to be assigned to the new authority.

Consequently the Government decided to amend the Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 to enable other functions to be assigned to the authority, which will ensure it can play an important role in the process of improving road safety in general. As a consequence of these amendments it is proposed to change the title of the driver testing and standards authority to the road safety authority, and the Bill to the road safety authority Bill.

The road safety authority will be a single agency with responsibility for a wide range of functions which have a bearing on road safety and will be in a unique position to co-ordinate and advance the road safety agenda through delivery of road safety programmes such as testing of drivers and vehicles, driver education and the promotion of awareness of road safety in general. I see the authority having a significant advisory role to the Minister for Transport in the development of road safety policy.

In order to facilitate the road safety authority in carrying out its role, the additional functions that will transfer to the new authority include the functions of the National Safety Council in relation to road safety. As the Bill already provides that the authority will have a general duty to "promote the development and improvement of driving standards" it is appropriate that the educational brief of the NSC, together with its brief for the promotion of road safety, be transferred to the authority, which I believe the House supports.

In the road haulage sector the authority will take responsibility for the functions currently exercised by my Department on driver hours and rest periods, including the tachograph, the working time directive for mobile workers in the road transport sector and the implementation of EU requirements on bus and lorry driver vocational training. In addition, the authority would also be enabled to enforce the relevant regulations in these areas as well as the conditions applying to licensed road haulage operators. Responsibility for implementing new requirements under EU directives on professional driver training in this area will also be assigned to the new authority.

While the Bill already provides for vehicle testing to be transferred to the authority, it is proposed to also transfer other functions relating to the standards that apply to vehicles sold or used in Ireland, as required by EU directives, and all related matters. Work in this area includes EU vehicle type approval law, standards for in-service vehicles, commercial vehicle testing and oversight of the NCT.

The activities of the authority as originally envisaged all have a bearing on road safety and the addition of these functions will enhance the effectiveness of the authority in contributing to an improvement in road safety. While the authority will have a significant input into road safety through driver training and testing and vehicle testing, it will also be given responsibility for road safety research. This will enable the authority to both analyse the causes of road accidents, evaluate what action might be taken and make appropriate recommendations.

I wish to refer to the issue of compulsory basic training for motorcyclists. The establishment of the road safety authority will also facilitate the introduction of compulsory initial practical training for motorcyclists. A working group, chaired by my Department and comprising motorcycle interests and an insurance representative, has been considering the appropriate standards that will apply in this area.

The House will be aware that Mr. Eddie Shaw tendered his resignation as chairman of the National Safety Council. The term of office of the board of the National Safety Council elapsed last April and the Minister, Deputy Cullen, specifically asked Mr. Shaw and members of the board to continue to pursue their remit until the end of the year so that they could support the proposed transfer of the council's function in regard to the promotion of road safety to the Road Safety Authority. To further enhance that process, the board of the council recently appointed the chief executive officer designate of the Road Safety Authority to act as the CEO of the council.

As the model within which we currently work needs to be re-examined, I accept the point raised by Senators. The establishment of the road safety authority presents an opportunity to pursue such a review. The authority will be tasked with the delivery of a programme across a wide range of areas and will also play a central role in ensuring that road safety policy is pursued in a co-ordinated and structured manner.

This year has seen a number of tragic collisions and, as the Fine Gael Party motion points out, October saw almost twice as many road deaths as last October. Reference to monthly totals for road deaths can create misleading impressions and the degree of variation over the months of this year reveal a significant degree of volatility. However, the trends re-emerging over the past two years are certainly a source of concern. We are now at the end of the second year of the current strategy and there is much to be done to complete the roll-out of the programme set down in the strategy and to realise the main target of reducing the level of deaths to not more than 300.

I assure the House that as Minister of State with responsibility for certain areas of road safety, I and my colleague, the Minister, who have immediate responsibility for road safety policy at national level, together with my other colleagues in Government, who have either a direct role in delivering programmes relating to road safety or in supporting the overall policy, are fully committed to achieving their goals. I commend the amendment to the House.