Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join others who have referred to the disgusting images in Northern Ireland. Any culture built on hate is not a culture at all. Some of the racist and sectarian imagery on these bonfires is quite disturbing and a statement from the Irish Government to this effect would be welcome.

I praise Senator Ó Clochartaigh. It is refreshing to hear the questions of asylum seekers and homelessness raised simultaneously. In this country, when one raises the question of refugees or asylum seekers or related issues, one is often flooded with comments asking about the homeless from people who never have any interest in issues of homelessness otherwise. It is important that Senators in this House raise the two and note they are all part of the same social justice agenda.

There is an issue on which the Minister for Transport and Tourism, Deputy Ross, needs to come before us. It was raised on the radio this morning and relates to legislation that needs to be amended quickly. An issue arose in the court in Ballinasloe where an anomaly in the road traffic legislation emerged. It relates to the absence of the word "or" in the current legislation, which no doubt was an error when the Bill was amended. Under the previous Bill, if a garda intercepted someone they had to be guilty, or perceived to be guilty, of 1, 2 or 3 - I will not outline the offences - but in the current Bill the word "or" is missing, and the implication is that the individual must be guilty of all three offences before they can be arrested. This was accepted by the judge in Ballinasloe and has been referred to the High Court. A simple amendment by Government could solve this or else all traffic offences or drink driving offences will clog up the courts and it will be impossible to deal with these issues in the short term. A practical solution would be for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to come here, propose an amendment himself in Government time to react to what happened in the Ballinasloe court and ensure that the courts are not clogged up. We can have another debate on his other Bill and matters around that but this is a practical measure that Senators could support and that would make a real difference in the legislative provisions that this House oversees.