Vol. 646 No. 1
109 Deputy Tom Hayes asked the Minister for Transport if, following his supportive comments on the need to reduce the legal blood alcohol level here, he will push ahead with the lowering of this level in advance of the original end of 2009 deadline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3473/08]
166 Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Transport when he will receive the recommendation of the advisory panel on the blood alcohol limit; when he expects to be in a position to announce his decision on whether he will lower the blood alcohol limit for drivers to 50 m/g; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3418/08]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 109 and 166 together.
The Road Safety Strategy for 2007-2012, which was launched in October 2007, identifies the need to legislate for and introduce a reduction in the legal blood alcohol content, BAC, level for drivers but it does not specify what that level should be. The Government has accepted the Road Safety Authority's recommendation that the BAC level should be reduced. The precise level to which the BAC will be lowered will follow consideration by me of the advice of the RSA. I expect to receive that advice in the near future.
A number of issues will inform the recommendations of the RSA, including known driver behaviour, past offending rates, analysis of data held by the medical bureau of road safety, enforcement practicalities and best international practice. As the current blood alcohol level is set out in the Road Traffic Act 1994, changing that level will require an amendment to primary legislation and I will bring a road traffic Bill to Government as quickly as possible.
Any amended level will also require the recalibration and subsequent recertification of the technology used for testing blood alcohol levels, such as evidential breath testing machines in Garda stations and roadside breathalysers, and this will take some time. With this in mind I am not in a position at this stage to say exactly when a revised blood alcohol level will be fully operational but I will endeavour to improve on the 2009 second quarter target contained in the road safety strategy.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Every European country has a blood alcohol limit of 0.05% except for Ireland and Britain, which both have limits of 0.08%.
Will the Minister consider a lower limit in respect of drivers on learner licences? The evidence clearly indicates that younger drivers with blood alcohol content of above 0.02% are more likely to be involved in accidents.
This side of the House would support reductions in blood alcohol levels. The road safety strategy originally set out a reduction to 0.05% but this provision was removed. The Department of Health and Children wrote to the Minister to express its belief that the 0.05% limit should be included in the strategy. All the information I have read, from Europe, America and elsewhere, states that driving capacity is reduced when blood alcohol levels exceed 0.02%, whereas there is no evidence anywhere that it is safe to drive with levels above 0.05%. It is not safe and therefore we should not be drinking and driving.
I reiterate for the Deputy that the final version of the road safety strategy did not contain any recommendation other than the limit should be reduced and that the Road Safety Authority should advise me once it conducted its research on the matter.
In regard to the 0.08% limit in the UK and Ireland, there is a belief that a reduction in the limit would automatically reduce the number of road deaths. I have investigated the statistics throughout Europe and found that some countries with limits as low as 0.02% have the highest rates of road deaths.
It is a question of enforcement.
There is no single answer to this problem. I am not saying blood alcohol levels are not a factor but they are not the only one. The UK and Ireland are alone in respect of the 80 m/g limit but the UK has some of the best road safety statistics of any country in Europe.
Unlike older generations, young people are much more careful about drinking and driving, although I may be proven wrong when the statistics are produced.
Those who are dying are the young people to whom the Minister referred.
It has more to do with speed in the case of younger people. I have no statistics to support my opinion, which is based on experience and anecdotes. I am of the view that more young drivers are killed as a result of speed and drugs than are killed by the consumption of alcohol and that more older drivers are killed as a result of the latter. The research carried out by the RSA, with which I am due to be presented before the end of March, will inform my views on this matter.
I wish to express my sympathy and that of the Labour Party to the families that were so tragically bereaved in recent days. In light of the weekend's events, is the Minister not being incredibly lethargic? Is not the ongoing, terrible carnage on our roads utterly unacceptable? The buck stops with the Minister and he must take responsibility. Is it time to declare this matter a national emergency? If the Minister wishes, later this week, to introduce legislation relating to people who do not possess proper licences, who have 12 penalty points or whatever, the Labour Party, and I am sure Fine Gael, would facilitate its passage.
The Minister vetoed the proposal to reduce the blood alcohol limit to 0.5. He decided last October that it would not be possible to introduce what, effectively, would be a non-drink drive limit. The Minister bears responsibility and he did not have the political courage to take this decision. Given that alcohol appears to be a factor in approximately 37% of collisions and crashes, is it not incredible that he decided not to take action?
If one considers the wider picture, the Minister failed to introduce key legislation in respect of driving offences. Gay Byrne, the chairperson of the RSA, went ballistic yesterday and almost threatened to resign because the Minister will not expedite the placement of additional cameras throughout the country. Most people agree that speeding is the decisive factor in the majority of collisions. Does not the Minister bear responsibility and is this not an emergency?
We welcomed the fact that there was a small reduction in the number of collisions last year. However, the position in respect of 2003 was similar. The carnage that has occurred during the past eight or ten years — the events of last weekend disgusted and dismayed people — is completely unacceptable. This is an emergency situation. The Minister should take responsibility and should stop referring to drink driving limits, road traffic offences and cameras.
Reference was made to the UK. The point about that jurisdiction is that the authorities there engage in much stricter enforcement of existing traffic laws. Is it not time we established a totally separate traffic corps that would be answerable to itself and to the Minister for Transport and that would enforce the traffic laws?
I do not know whether Opposition Deputies can be asked to stop misleading the House. I did not veto anything.
The reports indicate that the Minister did so and that he placed an "X" beside——
I accept that——
In procedural terms, the Minister will accept that, no more than any other Member, he is not allowed to suggest that someone is misleading the House.
On a point of order, I was of the view that I could suggest someone was misleading the House but that I could not state that he or she was telling lies.
I also thought that was the position until I read the relevant Standing Order. The Minister is not allowed to make such suggestions.
I propose that the Minister be suspended.
I will take what Deputy——
Is it a fact that the Minister placed an "X" beside the proposal to reduce the blood alcohol limit to 0.5 when it was presented to him?
The Deputy made an accusation that I vetoed a proposal which was presented to me. I did not do so.
Did the Department express its concerns?
I have stated previously, since I became Minister for Transport and when I served as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, that I take road safety more seriously than any of my predecessors. We put in place the first road safety strategy when I was Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
I will not refer to crashes that occurred at the weekend or at any other time because they are matters for the Garda. However, I will not take responsibility for accidents that occur because people do not obey the laws relating to speeding or alcohol, because they overtake in places where they should not do so or whatever. I never will take responsibility for such matters. I will, however, take responsibility for putting in place the strategy and then, in so far as is possible, trying to ensure it is implemented in respect of the areas for which I and my Government colleagues have responsibility.
That is just not happening.
We have a serious problem. When I arrive at my office each morning, the first thing with which I am presented is a sheet listing the latest position in respect of road deaths and injuries. I requested that this information be provided as a matter of priority because I take this matter seriously.
Dr. Declan Bedford, an expert residing and working in County Meath, stated, in respect of the analysis he carried out regarding road deaths in Ireland over a particular period, that one quarter of the people who died in the accidents he investigated had taken alcohol of a level between 20 and 50 milligrams. Does the Minister accept that this is the case? Does he also accept the results of a survey carried out in the Border counties and County Meath which indicates that alcohol was a contributory factor in 58% of single vehicle accidents involving fatalities in those areas? It is wrong for the Minister to state that young people do not drink and drive. It is true that young people, more than any other group of statistically significant individuals, take taxis. However, they do drink and drive and are killed.
I did not say that young people do not drink and drive.
The Minister implied it.
I said what the Deputy alluded to in his second statement, namely, that young people are more likely to use taxis, select a designated driver or make some other arrangement. It is unfair to make a blanket criticism of young people because they are making——
I am not criticising them.
——major efforts. In the debate on this matter, everybody tends to dump on young people and that is grossly unfair. I accept the Deputy's comments on Dr. Bedford's fine research in this area. However, that research did not indicate whether the people with the relevant level of alcohol in their blood actually caused the accidents in question. I am awaiting information and statistics from the RSA in this regard.
Does the Minister accept what the research indicates in respect of single vehicle accidents?
There is no doubt that alcohol is a major factor. It causes or is a factor in approximately 37% of accidents. There is an argument for reducing the limit to 0.2, or 20 milligrams, for younger drivers on the basis that they have less experience and may not be able to cope with the effects of alcohol as well as others. There are arguments on both sides.
110 Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Transport his plans to ensure that there is no further cost and time overruns in providing integrated ticketing in public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3478/08]
111 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Transport the contact he has had with the different stakeholders in the integrated ticketing project to ensure compatibility between the different services and to ensure recent failures do not recur; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3479/08]
115 Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Transport the timeframe for the implementation of a fully integrated ticket system in the greater Dublin area; the overall estimated cost of the integrated ticketing project; the amount that has been spent to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3399/08]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 110, 111 and 115 together.
Following two independent reviews of the integrated ticketing project in early 2006, my predecessor established the integrated ticketing project board in July of that year. The board was given responsibility to deliver the technology required to deliver an integrated smart card ticketing system within an agreed specification, timeline and budget.
The project board submitted a comprehensive proposal to me in December 2006 setting out the timelines, scope and budget. The proposal put the expected capital cost of the integrated ticketing project at €49.6 million. The board's proposal was assessed in my Department and I authorised the project to proceed in June 2007, following the receipt of the sanction from the Department of Finance.
A monitoring committee on integrated ticketing was established by my Department in July 2007. The committee is chaired by an assistant secretary from my Department and includes the chairperson of the project board and the project director. The committee meets on a monthly basis and monitors financial and implementation progress on the project. I am kept informed of progress.
In July 2007, shortly after I became Minister for Transport, I met with the project board to explain the importance I placed on integrated ticketing and the need to establish it as quickly as was feasible. I met with the chief executives of the various agencies involved as well. I again met the chairperson of the project board in December 2007 to get an update on progress and reiterate my continued support for the project and desire to see it delivered as speedily as possible.
The proposed integrated ticketing system will be launched initially within the greater Dublin area on the services of Dublin Bus, Luas and Morton's in September 2009. It will be extended to Irish Rail, DART and commuter rail services within a further 12 months, and Bus Éireann on a pilot basis on a number of its commuter routes. It is also envisaged that other private bus operators will join the scheme.
In the meantime, the award of the contract to build the back office of the system is expected by the end of March 2008 and the procurement process for a contractor to operate the system will then commence. Dublin Bus will launch its interim smartcard scheme in summer 2008 and Irish Rail will follow suit with its own interim scheme in 2009. Some €12.5 million has been paid out by the Exchequer on integrated ticketing since the inception of the project in March 2002.
It is 12 years since this project was first mooted, having an initial cost of €30 million. The expected cost is now €50 million, so there is an appalling waste of public money. The project is €20 million over budget at the moment, almost as bad as the electronic voting machines debacle, a mess with which the Minister was also involved.
The Dublin transport authority Bill is not yet in place although we had it in place in the 1990s. There is no person in overall charge of the transport issues in this project. Does the Minister accept the technologies exist in many other countries but the personalities are not the same in different countries? In this case, there have been turf wars between the likes of Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann and private operators. Can the Minister do more in the interim to deal with this issue more effectively and efficiently than as announced in his timeframe?
When I was at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and this was first mooted, I expected the project to be completed much earlier than today. With regard to the review of the current project which took place in 2006, all of the timelines have so far been adhered to and all the progress outlined in that has come about. The timescale is being maintained.
There is much more co-operation at this stage. The Deputy may not have been far off the mark when he indicated part of the difficulty was some less than helpful exchanges between those involved in the early stages.
I would have taken the same view as the Deputy until I examined the matter in much detail since taking up my current portfolio. It is not quite as simple and straightforward as the Deputy indicated. Some countries have got it very right but some have got it very wrong.
Deputy Broughan has a final supplementary question.
The Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, is the fourth or fifth Minister who has promised us integrated ticketing. What amount is needed to deliver the project up to August 2009? Will the Minister take personal responsibility that in August 2009 there will be integrated ticketing?
Will the poor commuters of Dublin have to eventually pay for this integrated ticketing debacle, which has gone on for 12 years, in double terms through increased fares and taxes?
With regard to the completion date, the integrated ticketing board is currently responsible for the delivery of the project and it reports to me. It is intended that when the Dublin transport authority is in place, it will take over responsibility for delivering the project. The expected cost, as I noted earlier, is €49.6 million, with this figure based on pre-tender estimates. We will have to wait and see what the tenders turn up.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
