Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 16 Oct 1997

Vol. 481 No. 6

Order of Business.

The Taoiseach

It is proposed to take: No. 5a.— motion re appointment of members to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, Committee of Public Accounts and Standing Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills; No. 5b. —expediency motion re referral of Taxes Consolidation Bill, 1997, to Standing Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills; No. 5c — the motion regarding sittings of the Dáil, and No. 7 — statements on the Amsterdam Treaty. Notwithstanding Standing Orders, it is proposed that Nos. 1, 5a, 5b, 5c shall be decided without debate. Private Members' Business shall be No. 13 on the Supplementary Order Paper — motion regarding the legal case of the Louth Residents Group against British Nuclear Fuels (resumed). It shall be taken on the conclusion of No. 5c and the proceedings shall there upon be brought to a conclusion after 15 minutes.

It is intended that the following arrangements shall apply in relation to No. 7: the opening statements of the Minister or Minister of State and the main spokespersons of the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party shall not exceed 30 minutes in each case; statements of Members called upon to speak shall not exceed 20 minutes in each case; Members may share time and a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which will not exceed 15 minutes.

An Ceann Comhairle

Are the proposals for dealing with Nos. 5a, 5b and 5c agreed to?

Mr. Higgins

(Dublin West): I object to the Dáil not sitting for four days at a crucial time.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy may not raise that matter now. Are the proposals for dealing with Nos. 5a, 5b and 5c agreed to?

Mr. Higgins

(Dublin West): The Taoiseach is proposing that this matter be decided without debate. Therefore this is the only opportunity I have to make a point on the matter. I do not know about other Deputies, but I was sent here to deal with urgent issues arising from my constituency such as long-term unemployment, poverty, neglected working class communities and the heroin crisis. I want time to debate and get action on these issues. There is no good reason the Dáil should miss four days in an already short session. I strenuously object to the proposal.

An Ceann Comhairle

Are the proposals for dealing with Nos. 5a, 5b and 5c agreed to? Agreed.

Mr. J. Bruton

Statements made by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs and others have cast doubt on the Government's acceptance of the Fine Gael motion regarding support for the legal case of the Louth Residents Group against British Nuclear Fuels and its support for the legal costs incurred by STAD. Will the Taoiseach make clear the Government's commitment to contribute to the legal costs of the STAD case as well as the research costs preliminary to any legal action?

An Ceann Comhairle

We cannot discuss the contents of the motion.

Mr. J. Bruton

I appreciate that but there will be no Government spokesperson taking part in the debate in accordance with the order. There will only be a conclusion by the Fine Gael Party. The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs made comments last night which may have given the impression that the Government was not willing to contribute to the legal costs.

Mr. Spring

Before Private Members' Business is concluded, the Taoiseach should take the opportunity to dissociate himself from the remarks of his Minister, Deputy Ahern, yesterday evening. These remarks did more damage in two minutes to the case than could possibly have been done otherwise.

Mr. D. Ahern

That is nonsense. I am more committed than the Deputy was in Government and always have been.

Mr. Spring

Is the Taoiseach standing over what his Minister said last night? If the Minister is called as a witness he is going to say there is no case as he did last night.

Mr. D. Ahern

I was pointing out the inaction of the previous Government.

An Ceann Comhairle

We cannot continue to discuss this matter. Is the proposal for taking Private Members' Business agreed?

Mr. J. Bruton

I think the Taoiseach is willing to intervene. Clarification on the matter may reduce the temperature.

Mr. Gilmore

Regarding the arrangements for the remainder of Private Members' Business, it is important that the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs clears up the undermining of the case which he undertook last night.

Mr. D. Ahern

The Deputy is twisting what I said. He should look at the Official Report. The point I was making was that nothing had been done for three years.

Mr. Gilmore

I am not twisting. The Minister came before the House and effectively said that there was no case. The matter should be cleared up in the interests of everybody concerned.

The Taoiseach

The Government's position is that we will continue to support with the residents the necessary development and research they wish to undertake. They have pointed out to the Government that in addition to the research currently being undertaken there are other aspects of research that will be necessary to help build the case. The Government is prepared to fund that research subsequent to which the legal case will proceed. We will continue to work with the residents in funding that case.

Mr. J. Bruton

Does that include funding the legal side of the case?

The Taoiseach

Yes.

An Ceann Comhairle

Is the proposal for taking Private Members' Business agreed? Agreed.

Is the proposal for dealing with No. 7 agreed? Agreed.

Proinsias De Rossa

Will the Taoiseach undertake a fundamental review of the manner in which we are seeking to prevent road accidents? The carnage on our roads has reached an appalling level. Last night a very dear friend and party colleague was killed in such an accident. I do not know the full details of that accident, but he will be a great loss to the public life of the country and to his people in Wexford. He made an enormous contribution at local and national levels, in Teastas and during his brief period in the Seanad.

I ask the Taoiseach to undertake a fundamental review of what is being done to prevent speeding, drunk driving and the elimination of accident blackspots all over the countryside.

The Taoiseach

On behalf of the parties in Government I extend sympathy to the Leader of Democratic Left on the sudden and tragic death of Michael Enright and we pass our condolences to his wife, Mary, and his two daughters. While I did not know him personally, I was aware of his work in Wexford and Kilmuckridge over the past 12 years as a councillor and of his work with the TUI.

In a matter of days 19 or 20 people have died on our roads. I will discuss the matter today with the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to see what can be done on the issue. For a number of years Garda and safety council reports have been pointing out that speeding is the major cause of traffic accidents, replacing other problems. If 20 people had died in four days from any other cause, it would be a major issue of national concern. We do not seem to express the same outrage when people die because of road accidents.

This is a tragic morning for Senator Enright's family and for the families of those others who have died over recent days and whom I include in our sympathies. I will raise the matter with the Minister today.

Mr. J. Bruton

It is only when a Member or former Member of either House is killed in a road accident that the prevalence of road deaths is brought home to the community of Leinster House. I had the privilege of appointing Michael Enright to the Seanad and am deeply affected by his death and extend my sympathy to Deputy De Rossa, Democratic Left and all his friends in County Wexford. I know the sense of loss extends far beyond one political party.

I endorse what the Taoiseach has said regarding the problem of speeding. There is a need to understand why speeding occurs, what drives people to put their own lives at risk in this manner and what inner forces are causing this outer expression of desperation, risk taking and turning of their face against the world. It is evidence of a fairly profound psychological problem being faced by many young people. While political action alone will not solve this sort of anomaly it is important to address it and recognise it for what it is. It is a problem that has many manifestations, one of which is speeding on the roads. Unfortunately there are many other self-destructive forms this takes and there are many occasions when others are destroyed in the process.

Mr. Howlin

As a colleague of Michael Enright on Wexford Corporation for more than a decade, I express my sympathy and that of the Labour Party on the news that Michael was killed tragically last night. Later this evening I will travel on that road, a road those of us from the constituencies of Wexford and Wicklow know well. This is a good road, extremely straight and wide which unfortunately seems to lend itself to excessive speed. As our road system is being improved the issue of speeding is one on which we must focus.

A number of reforms have been introduced in recent times. Unfortunately many of the tragic accidents which have occurred have reversed the downward spiral up to 18 months ago. Obviously there is a huge new volume of traffic on the roads which explains some of the problem. Despite our best efforts many of the accidents occur in the small hours of the morning. Even if we had a comprehensive system of monitoring speed we cannot monitor every road 24 hours a day but certainly there will have to be a concerted national effort to see what measures can be taken.

We have looked at engineering problems on roads and have rectified them. We have also looked at signage and road-markings. Last year new regulations were introduced and on the spot fines were imposed for speeding. The Minister commenced the process by introducing Operation Lifesaver. A summit involving all the agencies involved, the Garda Síochána, the National Safety Council and the local authorities is necessary to see what concrete measures would have broad support in the House and across the country to attack what is now the greatest cause of death among young people here.

Mr. Sargent

The tragedy of the carnage once more on the road and the loss of a former Member of the Seanad is unspeakable. Michael Enright had recently become known to many people in the Green Party through the Presidential campaign. He was well respected and held in high esteem by the people of Wexford. On behalf of the Green Party and on my own behalf I extend sympathy to his family and to Democratic Left.

I hope the question of roads and the dangers will begin to receive the priority it deserves. The previous Government and this Government have been involved with the car scrappage scheme. Many new cars on the roads are capable of doing considerable speeds. Tragically, it is too late for many but I ask that we look at the whole area of car maintenance and controlling speeds. In some other countries a bell rings inside a car to alert people they are exceeding the speed limit. We have reached that point here and this tragedy underlines the urgency of doing something similar.

Deputy Higgins (Dublin West) rose.

An Ceann Comhairle

I have departed from precedent today. Only party leaders can contribute. I will allow the Deputy make a brief comment.

Mr. Higgins

(Dublin West): Michael Enright was a long time activist in the labour movement. I express my sympathy to his family and his colleagues in Democratic Left on this awful tragedy. I do not want to prejudge what happened in this appalling situation but the headlong drive for ever more powerful, faster cars, pushed by relentless advertising, must be taken into account in trying to cope with this situation.

Members rose.