Brendan Ryan (Labour)

There is a prominent Turkish writer currently facing charges because he has attempted to ask his country to confront its own history. I fully agree with Senator O'Toole in stating that nobody should go to prison because they challenge accepted history.

The issue of road safety is almost at the point of monotony at this stage. I am not sure I even wish to indicate a wish for a debate on it. The political system in the State must nonetheless confront the issue. The public is at the stage where it believes that neither Government nor Oireachtas nor any other body is really concerned about what is occurring on our roads.

The public knows, for example, that the vast majority of truck drivers are blatantly breaking speed limits. It was happening again this morning. The Irish Road Hauliers Association simply denies this and nobody investigates the matter. We all know that trucks are not supposed to be going above 80 km/h, but they travel at 100 km/h or 120 km/h, as anybody travelling on motorways will testify.

It is time that a concerted plan of action be put in place. We all believe in lectures to the public about the need for greater responsibility, and I am not interested in digging up ancient history about what anybody stated 20 years ago. Lecturing the public is not now sufficient. The real deterrent to bad driving is the likelihood of being caught. It is not a potential penalty or another factor. Why will it take 12 months to introduce legislation to deal with random breath testing? Why are there no speed cameras? Why has it taken years to get mutual recognition of penalty points between this State and Northern Ireland? The list of questions goes on. The public has come to the conclusion that nobody in the Houses of the Oireachtas cares about the issue.

I am reluctant to suggest a debate but I ask that a Minister come to the House soon, for it is not overburdened with legislation, with a series of legislative proposals to deal with the issue. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should give a commitment that gardaí will be present and visible where they are needed, not sitting on a flyover shooting fish in a barrel and collecting large numbers of speeding fines, but on the roads, where this horrible slaughter happens weekend after weekend. I am not interested in making a party political issue out of it.

I was not in the House last week and most extraordinary things happened in my absence. I choose not to believe it was a coincidence.