Gay Byrne should be told by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen to mind his own business, according to Paddy McHugh (Independent, Galway East).
He criticised Mr Byrne's appointment as chairman of the Road Safety Authority.
"We had just got rid of Gay Byrne from the national airwaves, and after suffering the trauma of being exposed to him for so many years, now the Minister for Transport foisted him on us again.
"Have we not been exposed to Gay Byrne too much over the years without having to suffer him for longer? In any event, it has not worked because Gay Byrne is the news, and the road-safety message he is supposed to be imparting to the public is consequently lost.
"As usual he cannot confine himself to his brief. He must stick his nose into other people's business like giving a commentary on the Opposition to this House or calling us 'the other shower'.
"Will the Minister tell Gay Byrne to mind his own business; do his job and let us do ours?"
Mr McHugh, who was speaking during the resumed debate on the Road Traffic Bill, claimed that road safety was being managed on a public relations rather than a practical, effective basis.
"The public relations philosophy is evident every year at Christmas time and at other festive times of the year.
"There are television and radio interviews with high-ranking gardaí, backed up by television footage of Charlie Bird, or some other Charlie, getting excited while speaking above pictures of traffic on a dual-carriageway somewhere near Dublin.
"It would be too expensive to move out the country to narrow roads where late at night the accidents generally occur."
