Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I know he has been dealing with this and will do so again tomorrow as there is a section in the Public Transport Bill on people leaving the scene of an accident. The Minister has established his credentials in dealing with these issues. Prescription drugs featured prominently in a coroner's case yesterday in respect of an accident in Bansha, County Tipperary, where one of the parties had consumed prescription drugs, albeit they were prescribed for another member of the family. Perhaps the pharmacist or the doctor should state on prescriptions that people should not drive as they will cause drowsiness. The fear I have is in respect of medical exemption certificate where a drug is found to be present in a person's blood but it had been lawfully prescribed for him or her and where the certificate is signed by the doctor who prescribed it. It might not be much consolation for the party who was injured or killed that the person responsible was lawfully prescribed the drug.

I appreciate the amount work the Minister has done and I do not wish to delay the promulgation of this legislation so I will not press amendments Nos. 2 and 3. I thank the Minister for expressing this theories and observations. We all share what he is trying to do in this matter. Perhaps in the next Parliament, we will work on impairment and on other ways to deal with it. This is a good day's work.