Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is one option I will not be proposing and certainly not in Dublin West.

Senator Quinn mentioned making it mandatory for cars to have a first-aid kit, a warning triangle and a high-visibility jacket. That is one of the 144 actions in the road safety strategy. It is not covered in the Bill but will be included in a future Bill. The Senator asked about the numbers of staff in the RSA on short-term contracts. I do not have those figures at hand but I will ask the RSA to correspond with the Senator directly on those figures.

"Consultant" has become a bad word and people misunderstand what consultant means sometimes. Consultant does not always mean glossy documents and reports. The kind of consultancy in which the RSA is involved comprises a considerable amount of outsourcing. The NCT is outsourced. The NDLS is outsourced to three different contractors to do front office, middle office and back office. The commercial vehicle roadworthiness testing is largely outsourced. So the RSA probably has many contractors, but they are contractors doing real work and are not just writing papers, giving advice and that type of thing.

Senator Reilly raised the issue of texting as opposed to talking on a mobile phone. The current law makes it an offence to hold a mobile phone and we believe that should be robust enough but other people do not. We are working on regulations to make it a specific offence to text while driving.

It is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel at the moment and I hope to sign it in the next few weeks, lest there be any confusion about the law. I do not see how anyone can text without holding a telephone, but apparently it is possible because it can be placed in a cradle and the driver can press away on it, and seemingly that does not constitute holding the telephone.