Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

The Bill also makes changes to the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 and appears to give powers to the regulator to make regulations covering various aspects of the taxi industry, from vehicle standards to driver behaviour. The original legislation in 2003 gave this power to the Minister for Transport. I am concerned that this power is being taken away, removing the Minister from the equation and reducing the accountability for such regulation from the Houses of the Oireachtas. I do not support that provision because the elected Members of the Oireachtas have a right to scrutinise any changes to the taxi industry and any such regulation should be signed by the Minister for Transport and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I welcome the provisions in the Bill which mandate the National Roads Authority to provide rest or service areas on our major route ways. Driver fatigue has been identified as a significant factor in road fatalities and accidents and it is critical that motorists have the opportunity to avail of such services. It is regrettable that it has taken so long for this to happen. It appears that for a considerable length of time both the Minister for Transport and the National Roads Authority opposed the provision of such facilities. These facilities will now have to be developed retrospectively and may not be in place for several years. That is another example of the short-sighted approach to infrastructural development adopted by the Government.

Section 8 provides for the upgrading of a road from dual carriageway status to motorway. The maximum speed does not apply on the N17 or the N7, which is the Naas to Dublin road, yet the Naas Road is a three-lane carriageway each way. On some parts of the N17, including——