Reducing the number of people driving on Irish roads without a full licence will be a priority for the chairman of the new Road Safety Authority, Gay Byrne, wrties Tim O'Brien.
At a press conference to announce his appointment as chairman of the authority, the 72-year-old broadcaster said: "It is an outrage at the moment that there are upwards of 450,000 people driving on the roads of Ireland who are not entitled to do so. That testers' mess has to be cleared up."
Referring to the resignation of Eddie Shaw from the chairmanship of the National Safety Council last November, the former Late Late Show host said that if he found "the Civil Service stonewalling, or if I find that I have been lied to in any way, you will find me walking away just as quickly".
Legislation for the authority is currently going through the Dáil. It will assume the road safety responsibilities of a range of agencies, including the NSC and the National Roads Authority. Mr Byrne said that the road safety message was "simply not getting through" and he hoped that he and his soon-to-be-announced board "of good men and women true" would have an impact on crash statistics.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said he had phoned Mr Byrne to ask him to head the authority and he was very pleased with the interest he had shown.
Mr Cullen said that the authority's remit would include "advising Government, the testing of drivers and vehicles, road safety research and data collection, driver education and the promotion and awareness of road safety."