Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail)

He has received a great deal of publicity and that can only be good. He is a straight talker and will take no nonsense from anybody, including the Government. That is good.

With regard to the Bill, section 14(4) provides that each member of the board shall be a person who, in the opinion of the Minister, has wide experience and competence relating to roads, road safety, transport, driver education and examination, industrial and commercial matters, local government, the organisation of workers or administration. The board should also include a young person, given that we are targeting young people, as well as a representative of the non-national community given that a large percentage of road traffic fatalities are non-nationals.

Section 22 deals with membership of the board for Members of the Oireachtas and European Parliament. Subsection (1) states:

(1) Where a member of the Board—

(a) is nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann,

(b) is elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or to the European Parliament,

(c) is regarded pursuant to Part XIII of the Second Schedule to the European Parliament Elections Act 1997, as having been elected to the European Parliament to fill a vacancy, or

(d) becomes a member of a local authority,

he or she shall thereupon cease to be a member of the Board.

I understand an individual elected to the Oireachtas having to relinquish his or her membership of the board of the road safety authority because he or she will become a legislator. I do not understand, however, why an individual elected to a local authority should have to resign. Local authority members deal with their communities. An individual elected to a local authority should be allowed to remain on the board until its term expires.

Section 30 provides that the authority will make available a report on its activities not later than six months after the end of the financial year. As with many reports, this may not happen. With a staff of 300 dedicated to the authority, it should be in a position to have its annual report published within six months.

Senator Paddy Burke pointed out that to date, 150 people have been killed on the roads this year. It is an unacceptable figure. Up to 399 were killed on the roads last year, 63 more people than 2003. That year saw the lowest level of road deaths in over four years. From 1 April, 31 new offences were added to the penalty points list, including careless driving, not wearing a seat belt and driving with no insurance. I agree with the list of careless driving offences. However, driving too slowly is not listed as an offence. This should be classed as careless driving. The case of an individual driving slowly, resulting in a build-up of vehicles and necessitating drivers having to pass them, should be included in the list of offences.

An individual has 28 days to pay a traffic offences fine. If it is not paid after this period, from the end of the 28 days to the 56th day, the fine increases by 50%. After that period, court proceedings can take place. In certain cases, particularly where a driver is caught committing a traffic offence by a speed camera, it is necessary for notification of the fine to be sent by registered post. I am aware of situations where the first a driver knew of an offence was when a garda arrived at the front door with a summons. These drivers had never received the letter notifying them of the offence. The Garda had no proof of the letter being sent because it was not registered. Notification of traffic offence fines by registered post must be introduced.

Several issues raised by Senator Paddy Burke are included in the Road Safety Bill 2006. The Bill will provide for disqualification from driving for drink-driving, hit-and-run and insurance offences. The offence of driving with no insurance is included in the penalty points list but I always believed anyone driving without insurance should be put off the road. Senator Paddy Burke referred to driving while using a mobile telephone but that is also included in the Road Safety Bill. The privatisation of speed cameras is also included in the legislation. The Garda will be given the power to impound uninsured, untaxed or unlicensed vehicles, not only for State-registered vehicles but for foreign-registered ones.

I wish this important Bill well in its progress through the House and I look forward to debating the Road Safety Bill when it is introduced.