John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister. I want to make a couple of points on this legislation. I do not find myself in agreement with large parts of it. I realise I may be in a solitary minority in this House, but I have significant reservations. I do not represent any lobby group other than the people in Kilkenny and in Carlow who are part of my constituency, but I feel I must voice their concerns at what is being proposed.

I am not really a drinker. I have an odd social drink now and again. I rarely drink. I confirm what Senator Carroll stated about people of our generation and that the attitude to drinking and driving has changed. The Minister, the Government, Mr. Byrne and everyone concerned have succeeded in changing people's attitudes to drinking and driving. It is not only younger people. Among older people, now it is socially unacceptable - correctly - for people to drive after they have been in the pub, and I concur with that.

I also refute the notion voiced by many speakers tonight that this Bill will save people's lives. What will save people's lives is implementation. Earlier, one of the Green Party Senators spoke about the party of law and order. We have much law in this area already. We do not have enough implementation of the law that already exists, despite the statistics in the Minister's speech. That will be further affected by reductions in funding for the Garda, for example, in overtime for gardaí. The view is that, if these Houses pass legislation, results will miraculously occur on the ground, but we will not see any unless the changes are implemented. The Minister's proposals on the reduction in blood alcohol levels cannot be implemented until the machines that test those levels are in place with the Garda around the country. Anything we do today will have no impact until those machines are updated and in place. It is vital that we nail the fallacy that passing a law will suddenly result in a panacea. It will depend on implementation at local level and, despite the improvements, this has not been occurring to a sufficient degree. With further cutbacks in funding to the Garda, it will happen to a lesser extent in the years ahead. I wanted to put that particular point on the record.

I listened to Senators discussing rural Ireland. I represent a very rural part of it. That a Government would propose this legislation while slashing funding for rural transport initiatives is shocking.