Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 3 Mar 1992

Vol. 416 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Environmental and Health Matters.

Mr. Cotter

I join Deputy Browne in wishing the Ministers well. I wish to discuss with the Minister of State a very bizzare case. It concerns a young lady who reported for her driving test at the appointed time. The driving tester inspected her car and decided that the insurance disc displayed on the windscreen which had faded was illegible. The young lady then produced her insurance policy to verify that she was insured but the tester refused to countenance this and promptly failed her. She has now been forced to reapply for a new test and pay for it.

I request the Minister of State to do two things: first, to offer this young lady a new test at no additional cost given the trivial nature of this matter and, second, to investigate the matter to see if this silly decision was made on a number of occasions, perhaps by this tester, and caused other people who had applied for tests some distress.

Mr. Wallace

The road traffic insurance disc regulations, 1984 provide that the insurance disc required to be exhibited under the regulations shall not be exhibited where the figures or particulars are illegible or where the colour has been altered by fading or otherwise. This requirement is brought to the attention of all driving test applicants in the appointment notice which issues. The notice also states clearly that unless the requirement is met the test will not be conducted. In these circumstances I can take no action in the case mentioned by the Deputy. I should add that faded insurance discs are replaced without charge by the insurance company concerned.

Mr. Cotter

We have joined the tester in being extremely silly. I am very disappointed.

Mr. Nealon

I congratulate the Minister of State on his well deserved promotion and wish him every success. As a Deputy, I travel a great deal through Sligo and Leitrim. In the whole area I know of no more dangerous junction than where Cairns Road meets Pearse Road on the approach to Sligo town and unless traffic lights are provided a serious accident is inevitable.

In addition to this hazard the absence of traffic lights results in a regular back-up of traffic on Cairns Road even at the slackest times of the day. The trouble is that Pearse Road is exceptionally busy and long straights on both sides of the junction means that traffic moves at considerable speed with very few gaps. Surely this is a junction which qualifies for traffic lights under all criteria — traffic volume, vehicular directional counts, vehicle speeds, accident records and sight conditions. Despite long agitation and a continuously worsening position we have no traffic lights.

I am aware that until recently there were no written proposals for traffic lights from Sligo Corporation with the Department of the Environment. In that respect I have to accept that to a certain extent we may have been barking up the wrong tree. I hope the Minister of State will now be in a position to tell the House that the Department are approving the traffic lights for Cairns Road and Pearse Road in Sligo and providing a 100 per cent grant for the work as Pearse Road, the N4 is a national road. Unless he does this, sadly but inevitably there will be a serious accident.

Mr. Wallace

The provision of traffic lights is a matter for the local authority concerned acting at the request of or with the consent of the Garda Commissioner. I understand that discussions are under way between Sligo Corporation and the Garda Commissioner on the need for traffic lights at this location. Sligo Corporation have submitted proposals in this regard to my Department and have applied for a grant to carry out the works. These proposals are the subject of the discussions between Sligo Corporation and my Department and the corporation have been asked to submit a revised estimate of the cost. Traffic lights provided on national roads with the Minister's approval qualify for 100 per cent grants.

I expect the local authorities will be notified shortly of their road grant allocations for 1992. Pending the determination of these grants I cannot comment on the possibility of an allocation for any particular project.

Mr. Hogan

The people of Callan, County Kilkenny, are getting deeply impatient and frustrated at Government inaction in relation to the need to provide a by-pass for their town. In 1989, there was a great sigh of relief in the area when the Minister for the Environment included this project as part of the operational programme on transport, 1989-93, so that EC funding could be procured for this important project. However it appears that promises have yet to be fulfilled.

The Department of the Environment asked Kilkenny County Council to draw up a road design which was submitted for approval in March 1991. However, following the local elections in June 1991 the pace has slowed considerably as has traffic through Callan. At that time Government politicians were tripping over one another in a disgraceful fashion to announce that work was about to proceed. However, the necessary approval for the compulsory purchase of land was the subject of a public inquiry last November, but the Minister has still not made up his mind whether he will accept the proposal. It is not good enough for the people of Callan; in fact, the town effectively comes to a standstill at Bridge Street when two trucks meet.

The trucks going from Waterford to Dublin travel through Callan now because they will not encounter difficult railway bridges which are on the more traditional route between Waterford and Kilkenny. Traffic from west Waterford and Clonmel bound for Dublin use the Callan route, particularly since the completion of the Kilkenny ring road 12 years ago. It is not unusual to experience up to an hour's delay in traffic at Callan with the passage of this heavy traffic through the town.

The chairman of the county council, Councillor Tom Maher, is a local man, he is attempting to keep the lid on the issue and to keep the anger of the people at bay. He is succeeding, to a limited extent, in this regard. However, the residents of Callan, especially those living in Bridge Street, have had enough and nothing short of an announcement that work will proceed in 1992 will satisfy the people of the area and Kilkenny County Council.

I look forward to the Minister's reply.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment (Mr. Wallace)

As the Deputy was told in reply to a Parliamentary Question on 25 February 1992, a public local inquiry has been held into objections against confirmation of the Kilkenny County Council compulsory purchase order No. 1 of 1991 which relates to the proposed Callan bypass and into the propriety of confirming the order in so far as it relates to public rights of way.

A decision in relation to the order will be made as soon as possible. However, because of the Minister's quasi-judicial function in the determination of the order, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the scheme at present.

Mr. V. Brady

I should like to refer to a serious problem of the long waiting lists for orthodontic treatment for young schoolgoing children. This has been a major problem for many years. I appreciate that the Government over the past number of years have invested in the region of £6 million to try to alleviate the problem. Unfortunately, it has not done so and I understand that one consultant orthodontist was appointed late last year. However, that is not enough.

The list is growing rapidly; many children leave primary school without having had the opportunity to receive treatment. I am sure the Minister is fully aware of the problems and difficulties to which I refer. While I appreciate and understand that the Minister's predecessor endeavoured to alleviate the problem, unfortunately a solution has not been found. In my constituency I am aware that literally a couple of thousand schoolgoing children have been awaiting treatment for years and, as I said, many of them leave school without it. The Minister has a responsibility in this regard and it is up to him to resolve the problem through the Eastern Health Board. Something must be done very soon to tackle the problem.

Minister for Health (Dr. O'Connell)

In 1990 and 1991 the Government made available a special additional allocation of £3 million specifically for the development of adult dental and orthodontic services because of the high priority which they attach to these services.

The allocation by my Department to health boards for 1992 includes a repeat of the special provision in respect of the continuing development of dental services for adults and the improvement of orthodontic services. Significant improvements have been made in the level of orthodontic services in the Dublin area as a result of the additional moneys made available to the Eastern Health Board. In that area a total of about 2,250 children completed orthodontic treatment in 1990 and 3,660 children were undergoing orthodontic treatment at the end of 1991.

Despite these significant improvements, waiting lists for treatment are still at an unacceptable level. Following the resignation of the board's consultant orthodontist, they are now making arrangements with the Dublin Dental Hospital for two joint appointments of consultant orthodontists. These appointments were recently advertised and when they are made it will considerably improve the service levels for orthondontic treatment provided by the board. The provision of necessary orthodontic treatment will continue to receive a high priority and I am keeping the position under regular review.

I will examine the question of in-house training of dental surgeons in orthodontic treatment for which there is a growing demand, and the waiting list for which, as I said earlier, is at an unacceptable level.

The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 March 1992.