Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Dick Roche, to the House. It is regrettable the Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, could not be here to put across these points, given the undoubted importance of road safety.

The Minister of State highlighted the work that still remains to be done in respect of this important issue. He encouraged us to make our best effort not to be partisan and shrill in what we say but, none the less, the gravity of this issue is such that we all have responsibility to acknowledge what is not going well and where there are clear shortcomings, just as we acknowledge what is going well. The Minister of State said:

A further commitment is that, by the end of June 2008, all applicants for a driving test will be able to get a test within ten weeks .... The Road Safety Authority is working to have all driving instructors registered by 31 December 2008.

This means there will be immense pressure on the Road Safety Authority and its associated bodies to meet the deadline in June 2008. The vast majority of testers will not be registered by the authority by the deadline, nor will they have done the test or completed the training programme created for them by the Government and the authority. I read an article recently that stated only two driving instructors in the country are registered and have completed the programme to improve driving standards on our roads and increase driver safety. This illustrates clearly the failure of our system. I can understand why responsibility will be placed on the driver to do a test but the people administering that test will not have sat and passed the examination they are expected to do in order to teach drivers to drive more safely.

On the deferral of the new requirement for second provisional licence holders to be accompanied by a qualified driver until 30 June 2008, the Minister of State stated, "This move was made in response to two clear messages from the public. In the first place, there is strong support for the proposed reforms to improve road safety". There was such a strong reaction to the Minister's announcement some weeks ago because the public and the Government, when it was pointed out to it, realised the scheme would not work and that it would criminalise people who were waiting for a test but who could not get one. It would have meant that drivers' ability to drive around their communities would be removed.

A common failing of the Government is that it attempts to draw attention to the resources being made available and the money being spent. This in spite of the fact that when we try we are unable to discover a clear, integrated strategy to ensure money is well spent and that the recipients, be they patients, students or those awaiting driving tests, are getting the service they need. I will not accept an argument that places responsibility in this regard on the Road Safety Authority, the National Roads Authority or any other such body; it is a question of political responsibility because of the seriousness of the matter. This responsibility is not being met at present.

On the statistics quoted on improvements in road safety, while I will be clear in acknowledging the shortcomings that exist, I will also acknowledge the progress that is taking place. My awareness of the developments in this area has never been higher. I, as a very new Member, am privileged to be able to walk from my home to the Oireachtas, and travelling to my workplace prior to becoming a Member involved only a very short journey by car. While standing for election to the Seanad, my awareness of my political mortality was never higher. Likewise, my awareness of my physical mortality was never higher because I suddenly found myself travelling frequently throughout the country. Fortunate as I was to be supported by friends who accompanied me, I found myself on numerous occasions on the road at 10 p.m., 11 p.m. or even 1 a.m. trying to get home, feeling exhausted, and wondering whether I was going to make it. It brought home to me how frequent this experience is for so many people and how it is a way of life for them. That comes across in the statistics on road safety and fatalities.

I acknowledge the clear progress that has been made on this issue by the Road Safety Authority and the Government. There has been a decline in the number of fatalities. In the early 1990s the number stood at around 40 to 50 per month. The Minister of State has acknowledged that today, the figure stands at around 30 per month. This was also mentioned in the recent statement by the Road Safety Authority.

Alongside this, a number of other points must be made. The first is that the rate of decline we are experiencing in Ireland is now one of the lowest across the EU. According to the European road safety committee, the rate of decline we have had in the number of fatalities on our roads is around 10% since 2000. The figure in France and Portugal is 42% and in Luxembourg it is48%. While the improvements are to be welcomed, they are a fraction of what other countries are achieving.

Worryingly, the performance in recent months in terms of the number of accidents taking place has begun to buck the trend of decrease and begun to increase. Tragically, in August and September of this year, the number of fatalities increased by 35%, compared to August and September of last year. The number of individual tragedies to which we are referring does not bear thinking about. We should not let this debate go by without pausing to offer our condolences to the families involved.

The Road Safety Authority report refers to the number of people involved in these fatalities but this only illustrates how far we must go. The report said that one in three deaths are still caused by excessive speed, alcohol and not wearing a seatbelt or any other form of restraint within the car, while one in five deaths are caused by fatigue. The fact that road users continue to behave in this way, despite the money that has been spent and increased awareness, shows how we are failing and how far we must go.

I have carefully read through the new strategy on road safety produced by the Road Safety Authority. While I acknowledge the quality of thought and intent in it, there are failures. Elected representatives too frequently avoid commenting on and criticising the work of august bodies like the authority but it is important to point out that the strategy lacked an acknowledgement of, or detail about, what is not working. This was illustrated by a section in it that detailed "the current critical success factors" in Ireland, where nine different points were outlined. However, nowhere in the report did it describe the factors that are leading to the fatalities we wish to stop, acknowledge the shortcomings we have compared to other EU countries or point out failures at Government and policy level in dealing with this issue. This contrasts with the tone and clarity of the report issued yesterday by the Health Information and Quality Authority on hospital hygiene and HIQA's courage in pointing out what is not working. We must discuss why a section in the strategy pointed out success factors but did not point out what is not working.