Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

We need to move towards a situation in which everyone in the country is involved in the aim of minimising road deaths and making an effort to drive safely. We must consider the ways other countries have been successful, the methodologies they use for driver re-education and the way they enforce penalty points. When the late Minister, Seamus Brennan, introduced the penalty points system there was an immediate reduction in road deaths but unfortunately it crept up again very quickly. The reason this happened was that people felt it was not adequately enforced. There was a fear factor but subsequently people felt they could get away with it. As a society we must ensure we minimise road deaths. I notice the Minister tightening the screw all the time. The Minister must consider greater enforcement of the penalty points system. I came home one evening from a political meeting in Galway and I was breathalysed for the first time in my life. Luckily I had been drinking tea, which is thankfully not an alcoholic substance. Members of the Garda Síochána were carrying out random breath testing of every car, which is the right way to go. People must fear the breathalyser, especially late at night. Some think they can get away with drinking alcohol and driving home and this is quite often when accidents happen. We must tighten the screw on this measure.

Fine Gael is the party of law and order and I hope its Members agree that we need proper law and order in respect of road accidents. We must get very tough on this matter. Some 205 road deaths and a huge number of injuries is unacceptable. Even one death on the road is unacceptable. We must work in that direction.