Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister back to the House. I broadly welcome the scope of this Bill. This side of the House has been consistent in supporting the Government's road safety programme, much of which was initiated during Fianna Fáil's term in Government under the then Minister, Mr. Noel Dempsey. We see this Bill as another cog in the wheel and, therefore, we welcome it. We have certain quibbles about it, to which I will refer, and we may have one or two amendments, depending on how the Minister responds.

Road safety is paramount for every citizen in the State. There is a hardly a family and certainly not a community that has not been damaged in some way by a road accident or tragedy. The efforts of the current and previous Governments are bearing fruit at this stage. One is very sensitive about quoting statistics because, as we all say, one death is too many. Targets for reducing the number of deaths are being met consistently and that is most important.

The introduction of penalty points and speed cameras has helped. I noticed in a newspaper some days ago that an eminent judge stated he does not believe penalty points are having an effect because people believe they are something to be worried about in the future. I disagree strongly. From experience, I note that when one gets one's first couple of penalty points, and certainly when one gets a second couple, one definitely becomes more alert and ensures one does get any more. Penalty points have been a very important development.

Speed cameras have certainly reduced speeding on the roads and they work very efficiently. This is because the system is being operated by a company from my own town, Listowel.

I was quite shocked to read some of the statistics on accidents involving commercial vehicles. Up to 20% of all roadside fatalities involve commercial vehicles. At routine roadside checkpoints, 48% of commercial vehicles are found to be defective and 32% are found to be so defective that urgent action is required. This is rather shocking. There are those who do not have the high standards that are generally associated with the Irish Road Haulage Association, most of whose members are upright and responsible. Every driver has anecdotal evidence of lorries that are dirty and whose registration numbers cannot be read. Such lorries do not seem to have tail-lights. Further inspections and accountability are required, and that is why we welcome the Bill.

Drivers of older vehicles, in particular, are culpable. In The Irish Times this week, it is stated the Kerry county coroner, Ms Helen Lucey, has had for the second time to flag a problem she has noticed whereby older lorries with the infamous four-foot blind spot to the front left knock down pedestrians without the driver seeing them. This does not happen with newer vehicles because they must comply with a regulation. The regulation, requiring the fitting of special C5 and C6 mirrors, called cyclops mirrors, is still being phased in for the older vehicles. The Minister needs to address this lacuna, given the fact that people are still being killed.

That there are 30 local authorities and 158 independent testing operations speaks for itself. The system needs to be tidied up a bit. Speaking as someone whose background is in local government, I caution the Minister on the question of driving licences, which is the subject of the latter part of my contribution. The power of local authorities is being gradually eroded. Water is being taken from them, as was responsibility for the roads. Licensing is now being removed as well. The Minister stated that this initiative will create a number of jobs, but how many will it cost at local authority level? Are the latter guaranteed under the Croke Park agreement or will people be redeployed?

Standards are inconsistent. This is natural, given the number of testing operations. Communication between the Road Safety Authority, RSA, testing operators, the Garda and local authorities is poor. This leads me to the crux of the matter, one on which I have submitted an amendment. I refer to making data available to interested parties under the Bill. Has this provision been cleared with the Data Protection Commissioner or does the Minister propose to consult him? I will address this issue on Committee Stage.

The Minister mentioned the Garda's limited manpower for carrying out roadside checks. He might correct me if I am wrong, but if I have read the Bill accurately, it would seem that commercial vehicle roadworthiness, CVR, inspectors who are not gardaí will need gardaí with them if they are to stop traffic for inspection. This appears counterproductive. Would it not have been better to give CVR inspectors the power to stop vehicles? If there is a reasonable answer, I would like to hear it.

The Bill refers to a transitional period of two years from the old dispensation to the new. Will the Minister explain how this will work in practice? The Bill has a major flaw, in that virtually all of it will require secondary legislation to become effective. No timeframe for this is set out in the Bill. One wonders why. Secondary legislation will be at the Minister's discretion and we wonder what his programme for its introduction will be.

The Irish Road Haulage Association, IRHA, with which I was in contact, has no serious quibble with the Bill. However, it is concerned about who will be brought into the legislation's net. In particular, it is concerned about cowboy operators who have no affiliation with it and who do not have the same level of accountability as its members. The IRHA believes that its members are compliant and are either being inspected regularly or even too frequently while others are getting away. The IRHA has a query about the commercial vehicles used by Musgrave, Spar, etc., which have fleets of lorries. Like ordinary hauliers, will they be subject to one-on-one inspections?

Regarding the new provisions on driving licences, the Bill does not mention much about the fact that it will be a Visa card-type operation. While everyone would be in favour of that, a question must be asked. If a system works, why fix it? Where the local authorities' operation of the driving licence system is concerned, customer satisfaction levels seem high. One hears of few complaints about the way people are treated by their local council offices when the former try to renew their licences.

The IMPACT union is concerned by the proposed job losses and cites the OECD report, which is in favour of more services being provided at local level. Are we going against this idea? We have found that centralisation is not the panacea it is often claimed to be. The jury is still out on the centralisation of medical card applications. Centralisation is not necessarily a good idea. In this respect, perhaps the Minister might favour An Post for the implementation of the licensing regime, as it is in every town and village. Although the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, missed the boat and did not include An Post in the implementation of the household charge, perhaps the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, might be able to use it. The Bill proposes a charge of €45 for the safety levy. Will the charge be capped at that level for a number of years or will it jump to €100 this time next year? We welcome the Bill in general and commend the Minister's efforts on it.