Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 November 2018
221. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has requested the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance to cost the prospect of consolidation of road traffic law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48481/18]
View answer222. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the consolidation of road traffic legislation; the timeframe for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48482/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 221 and 222 together.
As I informed the Deputy in my response to Question No. 76 of 6 November last, my priorities in respect of road traffic legislation have been focused on legislation which is immediately needed. In that context, my Department is currently working on a Road Traffic Bill to provide, in the main, for graduated penalties for speeding offences.
Furthermore, the consolidation of the Road Traffic Acts must not simply be a matter of re-enacting all current road traffic legislation into one instrument. The benefits of consolidation are too often misunderstood and over-stated. If the project is to be of value, it will be necessary to examine each aspect of the legislation and see where it might be improved upon. Such a project, done properly, could take up to three years to complete.
There is no indication of any failure of prosecutions due to a lack of consolidation, never mind the significant problem which would need to exist to justify diverting resources from more urgent tasks to consolidation at this time. Any decision to undertake such a project in the future will have to be balanced against the value added and the risks associated with undermining the extensive legal precedents established to date. Indeed, I understand that recent significant precedents in court decisions would suggest that consolidation should not be undertaken at this time.
In the interim, the Law Reform Commission has a consolidated text of each of the Road Traffic Acts from 1961 to 2014 available on its website, which along with at least one recent publication of a consolidated text of the Road Traffic Acts and related Acts, delivers on what many understand consolidation to mean.
