Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

During a previous long and interesting debate on transport, I noted to the Minister it is becoming an everyday occurrence for the Government to reverse its position in respect of measures it violently opposed in the past. Now it is in the driver's seat - that is not meant to be a pun - everything is all right. This is flattering for Fianna Fáil.

Another reason Fianna Fáil obviously will not oppose this Bill is because road safety must be and is a priority with all right-thinking people and all Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas. It is encouraging to note the death toll on Irish roads has been on a downward curve and that an all-time low was reached last year. I am sure the Minister is delighted with this trend and I wish him well in his activities to drive the figure down even further, if possible. One life lost in a needless road accident is one too many. However, the trend is positive and it is to be hoped it can be kept like that.

One initiative introduced by the previous Government was the GoSafe programme involving speed cameras. I have a particular interest in this initiative because part of the consortium that secured the contract was a company based in my home town of Listowel. I understand it is providing a very good service and perhaps the Minister might comment in his concluding remarks on the GoSafe programme's progress, which would be of interest to most Members.

One must acknowledge the legislation contains downsides. While I will not return to the urban-rural divide, it is easy for city dwellers to have a social drink with friends after work or have a few glasses of wine with their evening meal, after which they can hop on the DART, the Luas or the bus. However, their rural equivalents simply cannot do this and, consequently, the quality of life of the latter has been eroded. I do not make a case against lower blood alcohol levels but one must consider the consequences thereof and must address them in a positive way to ascertain what can be done to improve the quality of life of people who, in many cases, now suffer from real isolation and exclusion, particularly in the more remote counties along the western seaboard and so on. Such locations have a higher incidence of male suicides in particular and I believe to an extent this is connected in some way to the inability of individual bachelors to access the pub on a regular basis because they have no way of returning home thereafter. When the previous Government was in office, the former Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, introduced the rural transport initiative, which did much good work. Does the Minister have plans to enhance those initiatives to make rural life viable on a social level? The introduction of lower permissible blood alcohol levels of 50 mg per 100 ml will again result in the magnification of the problem.

As for publicans themselves, rural pubs at one time were the hub of the universe and provided a good living for many families. However, that has gone as people simply cannot casually call to a rural pub on the way home from a funeral or a football match anymore. There is a huge downside in the form of a drop of incomes. Will the Minister bring forward plans to compensate publicans who are making an all-out effort to keep their businesses open and to avoid going on the dole queue? Many publicans are providing transport services of their own and consideration should be given to providing funding in this regard. If direct funding is not possible, perhaps tax exemptions for publicans who invest in transport, drivers and so on might be considered because this problem definitely exists.

I refer to one or two miscellaneous items of interest about which I have queries. The section dealing with defective vehicles does not really make clear what constitutes a defective vehicle. Are we talking about a vehicle that did not past the NCT or have a current NCT certificate or will it be at the discretion of a garda to decide a vehicle is defective because it has a bald tyre, lacks a light or something like that? As we are finalising the Bill it is time to clarify that issue.

How does one prove a vehicle is driven by a person without authority? The Bill envisages it to be an offence for the driver and the owner of a defective vehicle. The only way out for an owner, if he or she was not driving the vehicle, will be to claim the driver had no authority.

I have concerns about another element of the Bill. The Minister was a medical man. The Bill will ask serious questions of doctors and medical personnel. A garda will be able to enter a hospital without a warrant and look for a blood or urine sample. He or she can be prevented from doing so if a doctor is of the opinion that it would be injurious to an individual's health. We have all heard stories about people becoming sick and collapsing in order to avoid being tested. Will the onus be on a junior or casualty doctor to allow a sample to be taken from a person? There could be repercussions for the health of an individual. What would happen to the doctor?

A roadside test can be taken by a doctor or what is described as "available medical personnel". The reference to samples taken in hospitals specify a doctor or nurse. Who are "available medical personnel"? Are they paramedics or ambulance attendants? Some clarity on that would be useful.

I commend the Minister for continuing the good work of his predecessors. I wish him well in his attempts to further reduce road fatalities.

I wish to conclude on an issue not related to the Bill. The Minister knows there are currently no flights from Kerry to Dublin and none will be available until October.