Seanad report:There should be a 50mph speed limit for people coming to work in Ireland from countries where motorists drive on the opposite side of the road, Seanad leader Donie Cassidy suggested. There was also an issue whether cars up to 15 years old purchased by immigrants should be allowed to use our roads.
Mr Cassidy said it might be appropriate to examine the possibility of changing to driving on the right-hand side of the road in this country. Such a move would have an attraction from a tourist point of view as many visitors came from the US and from European states where they drive on that side.
He said considerable progress had been made in reducing deaths on the roads, although the recent spate of serious accidents had been a setback.
Rejecting Opposition claims that Gay Byrne would resign the chairmanship of the Road Safety Authority over the lack of progress in rolling out a network of private speed cameras, he said: "It's not in his genes to do so. He has shouldered the plight of very many sections of our society over the years, and played a major part in the formation of the island that we have today of the 21st century."
John Ellis (FF) said there should be a concerted effort to remove from our roads a lot of "bangers" which had been brought here from eastern Europe by eastern Europeans, many of whom were driving them without tax or insurance.
Jim Walsh (FF) said it would be a travesty of justice to bring in the speed cameras now because in a great many cases the speed limits were far too curtailing when account was taken of the significant improvements that had been made to our roads.
The limits should be removed before there was any imposition of these cameras. Otherwise it would be seen as a money-gathering exercise, and would not gain public support.
A Green Minister told the House that it sickened him that people who were facing enormous challenges had to take on the onerous task of going to court over the special education needs of their children.
Trevor Sargent, Minister of State for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, was responding to a call by Frances Fitzgerald, Fine Gael leader in the House, for steps to be taken by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin to ensure that the parents of children with special needs, particularly those with autism, do not have to take the State to the High Court to obtain education for their offspring.
Accusing the Government of displaying a lack of urgency and seriousness in relation to special needs education, she urged Ms Hanafin to rectify this "appalling situation". Rather than dragging parents through court she should put in place a model of education which included applied behavioural analysis (ABA) to meet the needs of young people with autism.
Mr Sargent, replying on behalf of Ms Hanafin, said it was the right of individuals to proceed with litigation if they wished. In these circumstances, where the department believed that the education provision available was appropriate, it had to defend the case.
The Curragh internment camp should be reopened if necessary to prevent the Real IRA from getting to the stage that the Provisional IRA got to, said Eoghan Harris (Ind). Stressing that the Northern Ireland situation was far from "done and dusted", he said they knew from Irish history the capacity of the IRA tradition to revive and reassert itself.
The Constitution had played a huge role in helping to erode the more savage side of Irish nationalism. The decision to change Articles 2 and 3 had done much to ease unionists' fears, and to make them more receptive to dialogue with the Irish Republic. However, there was a harder side in Article 38. When the Real IRA threatened to restart its campaign, at a time when permanent peace in Ireland seemed to be within our grasp, the State should leave that organisation in no doubt that if it resumed activities the Government would reactivate the extensive apparatus that was available through the Constitution to put them out of business. "If it means reopening the Curragh, that should be done."
Mr Harris, speaking in a special debate to mark the 70th anniversary of the Constitution, said it behoved all of them not to allow this last threat to peace from the IRA to go unchallenged.