Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I suppose I have a difference of emphasis in that I would not see it as a punitive measure but rather as a preventative one and that people should embrace the technology enthusiastically in that regard. I was trying to think of an analogy. Only when one first falls off a bike does one buy a bike with safety features. If this technology is available and it does not add to the cost of vehicles, it might change the way this House and society approaches this. These are sensible things one does. One does not wait to have a conviction to be told that part of one's penalty is to adopt new technology. That is a point of emphasis.

I commend the Minister's openness to this as possibly the next great leap forward in terms of safety. The purpose of the amendments was to open up that possibility and complement everything that has been accomplished in reducing the figure from 600 plus to the 190 figure last year. The question is about what should be in the next strategy.

We praise the Ministers travelling abroad on 17 March and say Ireland is a hi-tech society and a great place for start-ups and so on, but let us bring that mentality into what we are doing here. Let us use the technology and encourage that sort of get up and go kind of mentality. It is not just for when we go abroad with Enterprise Ireland or the IDA.

I mention the possibilities for the dialogue between the Road Safety Authority, the National Roads Authority, people in those research institutes and the makers on the margins of this. We could send a message to those in the vehicles business that we like people who are doing this safety research and incorporating those safety features into cars and vehicles and ask why they do not follow suit and raise the game in that way.

I thank the Minister for his insights into where we go next and for conducting the applied experiment on the Matthews bus. I will not push the amendments. I am very glad we had the discussion on them because by talking about them, we have opened up the possibilities in the Legislature in that this is something important and is the way to go.