Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Therefore, Members on this side have to say something on this. The Government members are entitled to their pay increase. However, I agree with the points Senator Fitzgerald made about the national wage agreement. I have been saying here for the past 20 years that these Houses should take an interest in national wage agreements. I have asked for debates on this issue here three times in the past six months. The fact is nobody is interested in these matters until the talks start. I guarantee that if we had a meeting here every week on this issue, in which I would be happy to participate, Members would lose interest in it because it is dry, dull material. The social partners will be talking about national economic indicators for the next three weeks. I would certainly be very interested in listening to what they have to say.

The report of the Seanad reform group indicated that one of the issues it was intended this House could deal with is the issue raised by Senator Fitzgerald. The Committee on Procedure and Privileges considered the possibility of setting up a select committee of the Seanad to parallel, focus, deal with, respond to or provide a forum for the point raised by Senator Fitzgerald. That is a very good idea. I am not sure how much support there would be for it. It was raised by Senator MacSharry last month and Senator Boyle expressed an interest in it previously. The nature of the work of such a committee would be dry and dull but I would be fully supportive of it.

We need to discuss the matter of the report on alcohol sales. I would like to hear more about two issues related to it. One is the proposal to reduce the duty on drinks containing lower levels of alcohol, such as beers with an alcohol content of 3%. The other issue on which we need to hear more is the impact of reducing the drink driving limit from a blood-alcohol level of 80 milligrams to 50 milligrams. Are there statistics to prove that reducing the limit from 80 milligrams to 50 milligrams would make a significant impact on reducing the number of road deaths or injuries suffered in road traffic accidents? I have not seen those figures. I have asked for them previously.

I understand this is a political issue. I do not want us to rush into a political decision that will cause further chaos in rural Ireland unless we have to. If we have to do it, then we should, but we should have the figures. Usually when figures are produced on the number of people involved in accidents involving drink driving, the blood-alcohol level of those involved is much higher than 80 milligrams. The effort, money and time being put into reducing the level from 80 milligrams to 50 milligrams might result in the saving of many more lives if it was put into BreastCheck or increasing the availability of other cancer diagnostic elements throughout the country.

I would like to have a full, honest and balanced debate on this issue. If we have to reduce the drink driving limit, I will support it, but I want to see the figures to back up the case for doing so.