David Norris (Independent)

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on." I cannot recall the verse but I understand the Chair's admonishment and the reason for it.

The road safety authority is to be welcomed. The primary aim must be to make Irish road users respect the law. In order for that to happen, we must give them laws they can respect because this is not the case at present. Many of the laws are a tissue of nonsense. Having centralised responsibility for road safety, the Government should go further and centralise control of road management as well. I am sure the Minister of State may find it in his heart to at least secretly agree with me that there is a huge amount of inconsistency regarding speed, for example. How can anyone respect the speed limits? They are inconsistent and capricious and are governed by local authorities. It is completely absurd that as a motorway passes through different jurisdictions the speed limits change. We all know of instances where the gardaí literally lie in wait under a bridge in a place where the speed limit does not meet the circumstances of the roadway. This is like shooting fish in a barrel.

By some miracle I have not yet acquired any penalty points although it may be tempting providence to admit it. The Government needs to have a coherent set of speed limits and this can only be achieved through a centralised body. It is not appropriate for every local authority in the country to make its own decisions about roads that are part of a national transport system. We are not dealing with boreens anymore but with major national highways which should be dealt with in a professional manner.

Road humps are idiotic things which simply do not work. As was explained to me by a resident of an area where these things were put in, they are supposed to stop kids speeding in what are called joyriding cars but these kids get an even greater thrill by driving at these humps and watching the effect on somebody else's car. Some salubrious areas of Dublin have nice, mild little humps that one would hardly notice while in other areas, such as Londonbridge Road, they are cliffs of brick which even if one drives at 10 km/h will do some damage to a car. This type of flagrant ignoring of the welfare of motorists can only inculcate contempt. I ask for consistency and coherence in this matter.

Even worse is the state of road surfaces. I have raised this matter in the House on a number of occasions. I refer to the inappropriate road surface materials used by some county councils. I have been asked not to name individuals and families in the House but the record will show that I raised this matter both in the House and as a matter on the Adjournment. I refer to the tragic case of a young girl who was driving carefully and with no drink taken. Her car suddenly hit a patch of road. She lost control of the car which went into a lorry coming in the opposite direction and she was killed.

The tragic accident involving a school bus near Trim was exactly the same. The road surface treatment was inappropriate. How many more accidents of this kind will happen? Local authorities are once again letting down the general public. In some of these instances the local authorities were alerted but even after the accident did precious little.

Appropriate speed limits should be put in place. It should be possible to drive in safety over those road humps at the maximum prescribed speed. A vehicle should be able to cross those humps in safety at the maximum permitted speed, otherwise the whole thing is a nonsense. These two terrible tragedies involved an individual driver and a party of schoolchildren. There should be some central authority to take responsibility for these matters as has been done with regard to certain but limited aspects of road safety in this Bill. We need to get road users to respect the rules of the road and the condition of the road. This can only be achieved by giving them something to respect.

I will unburden myself of another grouse with which the Minister of State, other Members and members of staff may be familiar. If one turns left having exited by the back gate of Leinster House, one rapidly hits the junction of Clare Street, Merrion Square and Merrion Street. This junction, like many all over the city, has a yellow box. It is a common occurrence for a double-decker bus to land in the middle of the box and stay there until the traffic light changes. Not one car can move as a result. I ask the Minister of State to ask the police to check this junction at rush hour over a period of one week to see if I am correct and to do something about the situation. Driving should be taught in schools, as is the case in Germany. It should perhaps be a compulsory extra subject in fifth or sixth year. They could be taught driving skills and respect for the road.

The Minister of State is from County Donegal and he must feel keenly the carnage on the roads in that county. There seems to be a constellation of circumstances in these accidents. The victims are very often young people and it happens on a Friday night and Saturday morning or Saturday night and Sunday morning. There may be a few drinks on board, too many people in a powerful car and it is in the early hours of the morning. This scenario is so often repeated as reported on the radio and in the newspapers. We know what are the elements that contribute to major road accidents and we should do something about them.

The proposal that members of the board should make a declaration to the board is very closet-like, in my view. Why are they not a bit more open about it? We as Members of the Oireachtas must make our declarations. I once made a declaration which included a portfolio of shares I had inherited from my aunt. The details appeared in the newspapers having been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and while it was reported that I was a decent fellow and a good legislator, the reporter asked whether would one buy a share from me given all the crap I had in my portfolio. If I had to make a declaration, why can members of the board not be required to make a similar open and clear declaration?

What is the logic in disbarring Members of the Oireachtas or members of county councils from membership of the authority? I am not the biggest fan of county councils, as Members will know, but if we are to continue to allow them to have responsibility for certain areas of management in terms of roads and road safety, I do not see why by being elected, we sometimes must be penalised by being excluded from areas of service.