Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I thank Senators for their constructive remarks. Senator O'Sullivan alluded to the progress made in making Ireland a much safer place in which to be a driver, pedestrian or cyclist. The year 2011 was the safest year on Irish roads and, so far, 2012 is safer again. This makes us the fifth safest country in Europe but there remains quite a gap between where we are and the best two or three countries. Senator O'Sullivan referred to the former Minister, Noel Dempsey, and I am happy to be building on the work he did. The previous Government received opprobrium for making many mistakes but it also did many good things and transport, and particularly road safety, was one of the areas in which progress was made. I was pleased that Noel Dempsey attended the road safety conference on Monday morning and is still taking in interest in the area. There has also been an all-party approach and we would not have made the progress without the co-operation of the Garda Síochána, the RSA, local authorities, the NRA, the campaign groups that helped to build public support for these measures and the officials of the Department, in particular, who are dedicated to this cause.

Senators Brennan and Mooney, among others, referred to the power of local authorities. When it comes to licences, local authorities have no power and fulfil an administrative function. Under the new system, we will be able to reduce the number of people producing licences from 200 to 60 and move a loss-making arrangement, which costs local authorities money, to one that will be slightly profitable for the RSA. It would not be practical to do this at a local level because we are moving to a plastic card licence. It is one thing to have 30 laminating machines around the country but another to produce credit card type licences in 30 locations. Even if we wanted to, it is not practical to keep it at local authority level. That is not to say that what is happening here is the same as what happened with medical cards. It is quite different because there must still be a front of office service. I anticipate local authorities will continue to do this for quite a period of time until it goes to tender. There are a number of options when it does go to tender: local authorities could continue to provide front of house service; An Post could do it if it wished to tender for it and I encourage it to do so; the Department of Social Protection may want to do it; or it could be done in the NCT test centres or driver test centres. The old era of producing a small photograph obtained from a booth outside Tesco is ending and in the coming years we will all have a standard official photograph to be used on social welfare cards and driver licences. This change will occur but it is something for the Minister for Social Protection to develop.

With regard to CVR, the staff have already transferred to the RSA. Senators mentioned approaches from IMPACT. As this relates to local authority staff this engagement is not happening with me or the RSA, it is with county managers and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government because they are the employers. Staff members are dealt with under the Croke Park agreement so there is no question of compulsory redundancies. In some cases there will be redeployment to the RSA, in particular in the north west. In other cases staff can be redeployed to other council activities which I consider to be a good development. As Senator Mooney pointed out, the number of staff in local authorities has reduced dramatically, more so than in most parts of the public sector. Local authorities are down almost one third in some cases and things are getting very tight. The fact we can now redeploy up to 140 people from laminating and processing licences to other council activities can be seen as a positive step.

Senator O'Sullivan asked whether CVR inspectors will be allowed to stop traffic. They will not. Only gardaí are allowed to stop traffic. We considered it but we thought it would be quite a big move to allow people who are not gardaí to stop traffic. Concerns were raised about their safety as they are not trained gardaí and with regard to public confidence. The public will accept being flagged down and stopped by gardaí but I am not sure whether members of the public would accept this power being given to other officials. It is not in the Bill but it was considered.

The Bill does not apply only to own account operators; it applies to all HGVs and trailers both own account and hire and reward.

Senator O'Neill raised the idea of requiring people to display their certificate of roadworthiness testing on the windscreen. It is a good idea and the Department will consider it and revert to the Senator when we have done so. It is currently a big sheet and would have to be reduced in size to a square shape. Perhaps it is possible to do so.

Senator Barrett stated the measures we are introducing will not dramatically decrease the number of deaths on the roads. He is correct. It accounts for less than one fifth of the problem. However, it will make less likely major tragic incidents such as the Kentstown bus crash. The Bill originated with that crash. Even though they may not show up in annual statistics because thankfully such incidents do not occur every year, they do happen every couple of years. It would be very good to have fewer such tragedies. Other measures are also planned. New penalty points offences will be activated later in the year and we are considering increasing the number of penalty points for those areas of behaviour which are most dangerous, such as speeding and driving while using a mobile phone, and decreasing them for behaviour which is not so dangerous. One receives five points for not having an NCT and only two for driving at a ridiculous speed or overtaking dangerously. This review is ongoing and the report will go to committee quite soon.

Towards the end of the year I hope to publish legislation to introduce preliminary roadside testing for people who may be under the influence of drugs. This legislation is pretty advanced and we should be able to do so by the end of the year. I also intend to introduce the graduated penalty points system for younger drivers. Senators may have heard at the conference on Monday that we have begun to think about the next road safety strategy which will run from 2013 to 2020 and the type of new measures that could be introduced. These will involve such issues as driver education for repeat offenders and fitting on certain cars alcolocks and devices which can monitor speed and how cars turn a corner. This would be with regard to repeat offenders. In some cases driver education may be offered as an alternative to penalty points. All of these measures are under consideration.

Senator Conway mentioned schools. Road safety officers visit schools and do a very good job. Together with the Department of Education and Skills we will probably be able to get across the line a special road safety module in the new junior certificate. The new junior certificate syllabus will contain a number of core subjects and a number of optional 100-hour modules among which we propose to include road safety. I believe it would be very popular and would be taken up by junior certificate students, particularly if they could do the theory test as part of it. It is something the Minister, Deputy Quinn, and I are very much in favour.

I share Senator Barrett's concerns with regard to risk rating or profiling. It is like being profiled going through an airport. One might be stopped a little more often because one looks a little darker than the next person. It always occurs to people who may potentially be profiled in various circumstances. However, there is good evidence that it makes sense to concentrate enforcement efforts on those most likely to be rogue operators rather than interrupting the business of those least likely to offend. However, I share the Senator's concerns and I agree that whatever system is used it must be evidence-based. There can be a degree of dodgy science in some of this.

Senator Heffernan mentioned the phenomenal pressure of fuel costs on hauliers. The industry is really struggling because of high fuel costs and other high costs. The road safety levy will be €45. It is not capped in the legislation but I do not propose to increase it in the initial years. I will see how the system works without increasing it. The Senator summarised the Bill as bringing consistency and uniformity to commercial vehicle roadworthiness testing, and this is absolutely right and summarises it very well.

Senator Mooney mentioned the test centres. The existing test centres will continue to operate for two years after which they can apply, but obviously they will have to be up to scratch. They will have a two-year period in which to get up to scratch.

I do not know about the issue of drivers aged over 70 not getting insurance. It has not come across my desk. Insurance falls as much in the remit of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation as mine but I believe there is a mechanism by which the industry collectively must offer insurance to people who are refused. Perhaps I am wrong but I can check up on it.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Senators for considering the issues contained in the Bill. I am very encouraged by the responses I have heard today. I am always appreciative of the contribution made to legislation by the Seanad. I look forward to debating the detail of the Bill on Committee Stage tomorrow.