Seanad debates

Tuesday, 23 May 2006

Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Committee Stage.

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Pat GallagherPat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

While considering the amendment, which was also tabled in the Dáil, one must remember that driver testing, the registration of qualified driving instructors, the education of drivers, the promotion of educational and information campaigns, and maintenance, management and revision of the Rules of the Road have been included in the Bill. As we speak, we are revising the Rules of the Road which will be ready prior to the enactment of this Bill.

Senator Paddy Burke is correct that the registration of vehicles is a matter for the Revenue Commissioners and responsibility for the maintenance of the national driver file rests with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Even if we were to decide it will be the responsibility of the road safety authority, it might improve administration but not road safety. I would have no difficulty in doing anything that might save a life but the national driver file is held by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and available to the Department of Transport, as it will be to the road safety authority.

From a practical point of view, how could a road safety authority without a budget for the maintenance of road signage and markings be responsible for it? Senator Paddy Burke was a member of a local authority and knows this is a matter for the National Roads Authority on national and secondary roads and for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on regional and county roads. Changing that for the sake of it would not be practical.

We have access to the national drivers file. If we changed that, new software would be needed and other practical difficulties would arise. Of course, if the law suggested that the Department of Transport or the road safety authority did not have access to it, I would consider the amendment but that is not the case.

Section 4 provides for the transfer of functions to the road safety authority. It covers the driving test, the registration of driving instructors, driver education and the promotion of road safety. We have tried to ensure that the powers and functions being vested in the authority are not presented in the legislation as an exhaustive or prescriptive list. For that reason we are giving the authority responsibility for the production and maintenance of the Rules of the Road through the exercise of the general powers available to the Minister under the Bill.

Section 10 gives the Minister general powers to transfer functions to the Department. We may in the future decide that powers should be transferred and I would prefer to come back to the Houses then. These general powers exist in all legislation. The Senator is serious about improving road safety but his amendment is covered, the Department will have access to the national driver file. We should not fix what is not broken.

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