John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

I support Senator Glynn in his call for action to be taken on the matter of indiscriminate taking of fish from our waterways. He is correct in stating that nets are being used extensively. In my own area on the River Liffey, there have been cases where these nets have been used and, as the Senator stated, within a stretch all the fish are taken. When some of these people were challenged by local members of the angling club, they had not understood that what they were doing was wrong because many of them come from cultures where this is allowed. They arrived in Ireland unaware of the fact that it is illegal to take fish by nets. That is part of the difficulty.

However, this is not to say that some of our own people are not doing the same. There have been spectacular cases in some of our famous lakes where the authorities discovered large quantities of fish had been taken. There is an enforcement issue which needs to be addressed and I ask the Leader to do what she can at Government level to ensure that enforcement takes place.

I support the call for a debate on road safety, around which there is an enforcement issue which is probably important. It appears that the countries that are vigilant in terms of enforcing the law are more successful in keeping down the number of road deaths. I have driven in Australia and it is significant that everybody there keeps within the speed limit all the time; it is difficult to find people who are driving fast. That is part of the difficulty here. The issue should be discussed. It was significant to note over Christmas that the figures for Northern Ireland were at a 20-year low. They are obviously doing something right and we should learn from what is happening in that jurisdiction.