asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the grave danger to schoolchildren caused by the lack of a traffic warden at Lower Main Street, Swords, County Dublin; and whether he will take any steps open to him to have a warden provided there.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Swords (Dublin) Traffic Warden.
4.
The provision of a warden service is a matter for the local authority concerned, acting with the consent of the Garda Commissioner and I have no function in the matter.
The Minister must surely be aware that Main Street, Swords, carries a very heavy density of traffic, being on the main road to the North. It is a very wide street. There is an obvious danger to children crossing it and to adults, too, let alone children. Would it not be correct to say that the Minister must himself have had repeated representations from the residents of this area and indeed from his own adherents in this area concerning the need for a traffic warden? In the light of this and in the light of the fact that the local authority, Dublin County Council, have taken no steps to provide this essential service, would he not, as a responsible Minister and as the person with whom final responsibility lies in respect of local government, take steps to see the manager and the council in Dublin and to say: "Look here; you must put a traffic warden at Swords"?
This is a very long question.
It is a modest request. I am requesting the Minister to put a traffic warden at Swords in the interests of public safety. There has been a fatality there during the present week. A child was killed at this spot.
I think Deputy Dunne did ask some question during the course of his speech. As one of the representatives for the area in question, I have already conveyed my representations to the proper quarter, namely, to the authority responsible for this, rather than wasting my time in——
——asking yourself questions.
——putting on a show here. As Deputy Dunne well knows, it is completely incorrect to suggest that the Minister for Local Government is responsible for the details of administration in every local authority in Ireland. This is a function of the local authority. Unlike Deputy Dunne, I have been making the representations to the proper quarter.
Along with all his other efforts to establish dictatorship in the country, is the Minister saying that I have no right to ask this question? We will shove them down his throat whether or not he likes it.
No, the Deputy certainly may ask questions. I am merely pointing out that he would be more usefully employed if he went to the correct quarter.
Deputy Dunne is representing his constituents which is something the Minister has never done since he came into this House. The Minister has ever sought power only.