Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I will not dwell on the amendment. It states clearly in the legislation that Members of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament and local authority members cannot serve on the road safety authority. I served on a local authority for 12 years and wanted to continue serving, but 1991 legislation precluded Ministers of State from serving on local authorities. I have had long experience working with local authorities since then, particularly when I served in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and I cannot disagree that there are fine local authority members who have a specific interest in road safety.

However, this legislation provides that the road safety authority can consult widely on all aspects of road safety. There are no parameters to that. In addition, the authority can establish advisory committees that would encompass all the expertise available to it, including that of members of local authorities. The authority would not be precluded from inviting local authority members to serve as members of the advisory committees.

I understand the Senators' motivation. There is a cross-party approach to this. There could be justifiable reasons for this applying to Members of the Oireachtas or Members of the European Parliament but I ask Senators to give me an opportunity to think overnight about this and its application to members of local authorities and if we can differentiate between Members of the Oireachtas, Members of the European Parliament and members of local authorities. I accept the point that there would be no question of prescribing that the Minister had to appoint a member of a local authority or somebody recommended by the General Council of County Councils, the municipal authorities or LAMA, that it would be a matter for the Minister of the day and that it would not be compulsory.

I want to think about this. I am aware of the strength of feeling on the issue. The Senators have made a strong point. It is not a question of them serving their electorate because local authority members are not part of the electorate of two of the Senators at this stage of their mandate. I am not trying to differentiate between the Senators; they are making a serious point and are reflecting a cross-party view in the House. I ask the House to give me an opportunity to think about the local authority members aspect and I will come back to it on Report Stage.