John Browne
Question:6. Deputy John Browne asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the changes he plans to make to penalty points; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57197/12]
Other Questions
Penalty Point System
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the introduction of a system of penalty point offences in this country. Earlier this year, the Department undertook a review of the system to determine whether any changes would be appropriate. The finalised review was forwarded to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications for its consideration.
Several adjustments to the current system were recommended. These include an increase in the number of penalty points for speeding, holding a mobile telephone phone while driving and seat belt offences from two, or four on conviction, to three and five, respectively. The review also included proposals to bring additional road traffic offences into the penalty points system. For some offences, such as using a vehicle without a test certificate, penalty points will apply rather than a direct summons to court.
The Minister accepted the recommended adjustments and primary legislation is now required to give them effect. It is intended, therefore, to introduce a road traffic Bill in the Oireachtas early in 2013, which will make the necessary provisions, with the intention being to publish the Bill in the new year. In the meantime, the general scheme can be viewed on the Department's website.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply and assure him that Fianna Fáil will be happy to support the changes that are proposed. It is a positive aspects of politics in this country that road safety was not hijacked by any political party, with the previous Government receiving considerable support from the then Opposition for its efforts to develop an effective road strategy. In fact, one of the most positive achievements of the Legislature in the past ten years is the success we have had in terms of reducing incidents of death and injury on the roads and the consequent positive impact in terms of the treatment times within hospitals.
Having said that, it is incumbent on us, on an ongoing basis, to raise this issue in the House. It is only by keeping road safety always in the spotlight that we will continue to see an appreciable effect in terms of raising public awareness. It is particularly important as we head into the Christmas period that people are especially mindful of the need to show due care and attention on the roads.
I could not agree more with the Deputy's last point. I also take on board his reference to efforts by previous Governments, in co-operation with the Opposition, in this vital area. We can never be complacent in this regard and must always seek to improve existing legislation. That is why, following on from the assessment of the Oireachtas committee, the changes we are proposing will be introduced in the Bill to be published very early in the new year.
My colleagues and I have called for a public inquiry into allegations of malpractice in the administration of the penalty points system.
Some people are very concerned about problems in the system in terms of what it is lawful to terminate and what is not. What is required is a review of the system surrounding the discretion the gardaí use and the policy and processes within the Garda to oversee the exercise of that discretion. We must examine what is and is not lawful to terminate, what criteria are used, if any, what process is used, whether reasons are set out, if there is a paper trail, what monitoring and oversight provisions exist and what review or appeal mechanism exists to ensure that this discretion is exercised fairly. It is alleged that there have been almost 100,000 terminations in the last five years. Only a public inquiry by a specially appointed independent individual can respond to these allegations and the serious concerns raised, in order to restore public confidence in the force.
The penalty points system has contributed hugely to the number of lives that have been saved on the roads. I have a question about people who drive unaccompanied by a full licence holder. Section 54(c) must be activated, if I am not mistaken, and primary legislation is required. Will the Minister confirm that? Will he also comment on what is planned to deal with people who do not display learner plates? Once again, I believe legislation will be required. What is planned to deal with the people driving under the influence of drugs, as opposed to driving under the influence of drink?
On the penalty points system, earlier the Minister spoke quite passionately about how he intended to enforce the law for taxi drivers. That is very admirable. I hope he will be as quick to enforce the law when it comes to what is happening with the penalty points at present.
The Minister and I are aware of the claims regarding the alleged quashing of penalty points for road traffic offences. When provided with the documents the Minister forwarded a list of all the allegations to the Minister for Justice and Equality expressing his concern and asked that the matter be fully investigated. The Government believes the matter must be fully investigated. I understand the Garda Commissioner has ordered an investigation of the allegations under the direction of Assistant Commissioner John O'Mahoney. They are allegations at this stage, although many Deputies have commented openly on them in the media recently. However, it would not be appropriate to comment further until the investigation is complete and the Government makes a decision on how it will respond to the investigation. This issue is being taken very seriously and will be investigated thoroughly, as it must be.
On the questions asked by Deputy Ellis, if a learner driver drives without appropriate learner plates, he or she will receive penalty points and on receiving six penalty points, he or she will have his or her licence revoked. That is an important new change. There will be roadside testing for drugs and a process will be put in place to achieve that. There will be two stages in the process. The first is to ensure that we can do roadside drug testing. Every Member would support that. At a later date we hope to be able to provide the mechanisms for doing that as well. Initially, we will carry out roadside testing. The Deputy asked some other questions and I will revert back to him on them.
Transport Policy
Robert Troy
Question:7. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the implication for transport policy in view of the fact that the proportion of commuters using cars to travel to work has risen from 57% to 69% over the past 30 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57225/12]
Catherine Murphy
Question:32. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the most recent data from the Central Statistics Office which show continued and marked increases in numbers commuting by car for both workers and school students, the measures he intends to introduce to reverse this trend in the lifetime of this Government; in particular, the initiatives he intends for the greater Dublin area where 55% of commuters travel to work by car; the measures he intends to implement to reduce the numbers of school students travelling to school by car; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57196/12]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 32 together.
According to the Census in 2011 around 1.14 million people drove to work or were passengers in a car, representing 69% of commuters. That was very similar to 2006 when around 1.18 million people drove to work or were passengers in a car. Despite the fall in car commuting numbers, due to lower numbers in employment, car mode share was higher in 2011, standing at 69% of commuters compared to 66% in 2006, which I noted with disappointment. I was, however, heartened to note the cycling numbers, which were up from 36,000 in 2006 to 39,000 for people travelling to work, and up from 54,000 to 61,000 for travel to work and education. This increase, although from a modest base, reverses a long-standing trend of fewer people commuting by bike.
This Government recognises the challenge ahead and remains committed to decreasing reliance on the private car. We are taking a two-pronged approach to improving sustainable commuting rates: investment in public transport and infrastructure to facilitate cycling and walking, allied to support for programmes to encourage people to make smarter travel decisions. In addition to funding for facilities or infrastructure to make smarter travel safer and more attractive to users, my Department funds a number of schemes to encourage smarter travel, including the travel element of the Green Schools programme, which is proving successful in securing behavioural change on the school run, a new Smarter Campuses programme and Smarter Travel Workplaces, which helps employers to bring smarter travel to their workplaces.
In the greater Dublin area, my Department works with the NTA to decrease reliance on the private car. Successful initiatives in the region include the dublinbikes scheme and continued investment in cycle lanes and pedestrian measures. The region is served by an extensive public transport network, greatly improved by the roll-out of RTPI and the Leap card over the last year. A reduction in car trips can only be achieved if we all make smarter travel choices. The Government will continue to focus on facilitating and encouraging people to consider using public transport or walking and cycling, where possible.
The Minister set out the headline changes and is obviously disappointed with them. Obviously, much more must be done to develop a strategy to get more people out of the car. Since 1981 there has been a serious reduction in the number of people using buses. Some of that is due to the fact that as the economy improved there was a greater propensity for car ownership to increase. People liked the freedoms associated with that. The transformation of our road network also helped in terms of the reduction in gridlock. People considered it more convenient to use their cars. The Government should encourage people to use public transport to a greater extent, although this cannot be laid at the Government's door alone.
Changes are taking place now that are having an impact on the use of public transport. Obviously, it must be recognised by the Government that there is a social good associated with the modal shift away from the car to public transport. That brings me back to the discussion we had in the past about trying to restructure CIE and funding it adequately and appropriately. Before the Minister says so, I am aware that the previous Government reduced the level of subvention. The Minister is following through on that. This year he had to provide an additional €35 million. It will put a huge strain on CIE next year if it will have to manage without that sum and without having an overall restructuring. I am concerned that the immediate response to the cutback in subvention - and the same comment could be made to the previous Government - will be to reduce service and increase ticket prices. While those two actions might resolve the economic imbalance that exists within the State companies, they act as a very significant disincentive for people using public transport. The Minister will have to come forward with ways to mitigate the worst effects of having to increase fares and reduce service in order to retain the network during the recession so there will be an adequate and appropriate public transport service when the economy recovers.
I have taken the Deputy's comments on board. Everything is being done to ensure the public transport network is maintained and enhanced from a qualitative perspective, in particular, to make customer journeys a better experience, whether that is through WiFi, the RTPI, the Leap card and many other adjustments. While I was surprised by some of the figures produced by the analysis, I was taken aback by those on cycling.
Cycling is gaining huge popularity, particularly as a mode of travel to school and work. Anecdotally, cycling is being very much encouraged and it is progressing. The previous Administration helped in this regard with the provision of the tax scheme for bicycles and that has been maintained under this Government. We also need to see the end product from the funding in the smarter travel areas programme, active travel towns, the national cycle network and a number of other smarter travel initiatives and how they impact on these statistics in the years to come.
I am greatly encouraged by the response the Government has had to the call for private investors to come on board to roll out bike schemes in other cities. It is my ambition and that of the Government to introduce bike schemes in Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford. I look forward to a bright future in this regard.
The Minister of State put the drop in numbers and the use of cars down to less employment but it is also down to the cut in the number of bus routes, which has been done for cost saving reasons but these services have been cut, in particular, in working class areas. In my area, for example, the 19 and 19A bus routes have been lost and this has been a bone of contention while in rural Ireland primary routes along which buses once picked up in villages such as Rooskey are no more. The number of routes has reduced and some of them have been given over to private companies. Increasing bus fares does not help either when they should remain stable to attract passengers. The subsidies need to be maintained. The Government cannot keep cutting them because every other city in Europe subsidises its transport.
I acknowledge the Deputy is making these comments sincerely but if we were to do everything he said, Dublin Bus would not be sustainable. It is unfortunate that fares had to be increased modestly. The Network Direct project has been successful in many ways and I acknowledge people have issues with it. Nobody knows that better because they come to me as well. It was necessary to ensure from a financial point of view that Dublin Bus would be in a better position in the future. In some cases, many of the issues raised by resident groups around Dublin have been addressed and Dublin Bus has done a good job. The company is operating in a difficult environment and it is not always appropriate to make reference to the fact that routes have had to be cut or changes have had to be made. The company is doing so in the most modest way it can to ensure the least disruption and to ensure it can operate a service for the public in a positive way in the future. It will do that and it does an outstanding job.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He correctly pointed out the huge increase in the number of cyclists in urban areas and dublinbikes has played a major role in that but recent surveys have highlighted that a tiny minority of them break the law in a dangerous manner. Penalty points cannot be applied in these cases. Will he consider on-the-spot fines for cyclists who clearly the breach the rules of roads both at traffic lights and on footpaths, which are becoming major urban issues? The former Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Noel Dempsey, invested in a cycle route along the canal but cyclists blatantly ignore traffic lights and they will cause a serious accident. Will the Minister of State bring these issues to the senior Minister and ask him to consider an on-the-spot fines system in this regard?
The Deputy is passionate about these issues. He has spoken previously to me about them and I have some sympathy for his position. It is something we will examine in the future but there is no precedent for such fines. I have witnessed the same issues and, at certain times of the day, they could cause serious disruption.
Will the Government consider a scheme I read about in the newspapers recently, which I did not think was serious at the time but it turned out it was? Swimming lanes have been developed on Regent's Canal in London in order that people can swim to work. Would the Government consider that after cleaning up the canals? One would want showers for the canals in Dublin.
We have the water in the west.
That does not need a response.