Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This morning the Christmas road safety drive will be launched by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, the Garda Commissioner, Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan, and the chairperson of the Road Safety Authority, Ms Liz O'Donnell. All three have been appointed to their posts relatively recently and I wish Ms O'Sullivan and Ms O'Donnell every success in their respective roles.
The emphasis on this occasion will be on drug driving. However, the deliberations of this House show that the whistleblower issue merits further investigation, which I hope the Commissioner will initiate. Furthermore, there are court cases taking place where it is not a requirement to produce a driving licence and therefore the licence cannot be endorsed. The absence of a requirement in Ireland that those who drive should have their driving licences with them has led to the situation, as reported to the House, whereby 40% of penalty points were incurred by people who were recorded as having no driving licence. However, that was not true. Those people were not boy racers. The requirement to produce a driving licence in court and to have one when driving should be examined as part of improving road safety. Our road safety statistics have started to deteriorate again. We had an excellent period for road safety but that is changing.
I also wish to raise the issue of the requirement for mortgage applicants to have a 20% deposit which was endorsed by the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Honohan, at yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, as well as by Ross Maguire, SC, of New Beginning this morning. The endorsement by Mr. Maguire is very important, given the work being carried out by New Beginning. The proceedings of the committee are described by Mr. Thomas Molloy - a very witty and erudite journalist - in today's Irish Independentwho notes that Mr. Honohan is in favour of the 20% deposit requirement. Mr. Molloy goes on to say:

His paymaster, Michael Noonan, clearly wants the property party to continue indefinitely. The European Central Bank, to which Mr. Honohan has sworn an oath to consider the big picture, wants the opposite.

Those of us who know Deputy Noonan know that this is not an accurate description. Indeed, nobody wants property bubbles. More and more people in economic circles are saying that the 20% deposit requirement is a good idea. It may seem like harsh medicine at the beginning but we must save the country from what the banks would do through irresponsible lending. It will also save people from getting into unnecessary debt. Those endorsements of the 20% deposit requirement are very important in terms of assisting us in developing a policy to prevent house price bubbles from happening here ever again.