Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

A great deal of attention has been focussed on the register of electors over the last few days. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, has spoken about the issue. I do not think there is any more certainty on foot of his comment that the onus to carry out the work that is needed is strictly on local authorities. We are aware that changes to the register of electors have taken place in recent years. Political parties used to analyse the register in the past. That might still be possible in rural areas, but it is not possible in urban areas. Something new has to happen, therefore.

Attention was firmly focussed on this issue over the weekend when the Trinity College branch of Fianna Fáil published the results of its study of the register of electors in the Dublin South-West constituency. It found that 17,000 people should have been on the register but were not registered, while a further 15,000 people who should not have been on the register were on it. The findings of that study have crystallised our thinking on the urgent need to do something about this problem. Various options have been proposed, such as asking the census enumerators to carry out a study. Others have put forward the theory that it should be linked to PPS numbers.

As we face the summer and the time when many students will be available, a scheme should perhaps be considered on which they could work. What is required is not necessarily to have them call to houses on a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. basis, but possibly between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. because many families are out during the day. Innovative thinking is required to reflect the times in which we live. Perhaps the old system cannot readily conform to modern norms, so I should like if consideration was given to my suggestion.

It is clear there was increased vigilance by the Garda Síochána over the bank holiday weekend when there was a remarkable number of 320 arrests for drink driving infringements. Although it does not seem to be getting through to motorists, we nonetheless welcome the extra Garda vigilance. I hope it continues over subsequent weekends. Following the events of the weekend, the chairman of the road safety authority, Mr. Gay Byrne, said the increase in drink driving arrests and continuing fatalities on our roads was terribly depressing. Up to the end of April there were 140 fatalities on the roads as opposed to 118 for the contrasting period last year. Therefore, there is still an enormous problem. However, the chief executive of the road safety authority said he was delighted with the public response to the road safety message, which would appear to contradict what the chairman had to say.

We in this House have rightly highlighted the importance of personal responsibility on this issue. However, a series of measures needs to be introduced by the Government if we are to be serious about this issue. There is now a sense of urgency on many fronts and I hope all the necessary target areas will be prioritised such as the situation regarding provisional drivers' licences, the driving test, random breath testing, speed cameras, the translation of the rules of the road into foreign languages and so on. These matters must be tackled as a matter of urgency, otherwise the statistics at the end of the year will be very unhealthy.