Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this matter this evening. I wish to speak about two separate but related issues on road safety. In the run-up to Christmas and with the dark evenings we are all conscious of safety. We opened a new fire station in Moville yesterday and the difficulties faced by the emergency services at this time of the year were to the fore.

Traffic islands are an issue throughout the island of Ireland, and the North is no different from the Republic in this regard. When I ask the NRA about traffic islands the answer I always receive is that they are lit. However, they are not all lit. Sometimes the lights do not work. I am also told that they are all painted. However, the fact that they are painted is only effective during the day, and during the day it is not an issue. It is at night that the issue arises. A simple suggestion is to place a couple of cats eyes on the cement base of the traffic islands. This would increase visibility and ensure people in cars have the best opportunity to see them. When they see the island they will be much more aware of pedestrians who may be standing on it mid-point crossing from one side to the other.

I had to raise the issue in this way because I contacted the Minister directly on a number of occasions and I was told it was a matter for the NRA. When I went to the NRA I was told it was a matter of road safety. It goes around and around and I cannot get anybody to take responsibility for the issue. Some of the roads are not NRA roads, they are local authority roads. Will the Minister of State establish who has the capacity to deal with this matter? Will it be done on a North South basis with the Minister in the North? As I stated, both sides of the Border are as bad as each other and it is as dangerous on either side.

Like all of my colleagues, I drive a great deal and I am on the road most of the time. I also walk a great deal when I am in Dublin. This evening, as I crossed Kildare Street I saw a number of cyclists going around with no visibility aids whatsoever. When something happens it can be the cyclist's fault or the motorist's fault but if one is not visible one does not help the chances of people avoiding one.

In the good old days when there was no technology a dynamo ensured there was always light on a bicycle. In this age of technology will the Minister of State, if he has special responsibility for this, examine at European level the manufacturing of bicycles to ensure they are manufactured with an in-built light? It should not be technologically impossible at this point in time to be visible when cycling.

We should step up a campaign with regard to what one should wear when cycling. The other day, I walked the two miles from here to where I stay. A total of 25 bicycles passed me at various points on the journey, of which 13 had absolutely no visibility aid on either the cyclist or the bicycle, approximately three cyclists had a florescent strip on their bodies and another four had something on the front or back but not on both front and back. Accidents are waiting to happen due to the non-lighting of bicycles and the non-visibility of traffic islands. Both issues can be easily solved and I ask the Minister of State to take an interest in this area.