Seanad Report: Mr Brian Hayes, Fine Gael leader in the House, asked how it was that the National Roads Authority, an "unelected, unaccountable quango", could refuse to follow the policy directives of local and national politicians and think it could get away with it.
The horrific crash on the M50 last Sunday was attributable to the decision of the NRA not to install specific crash barriers on the motorway median.
"We have to ask the question, who are the NRA accountable to? They were told in 2001 by the Government to install crash barriers. Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council had countless motions on behalf of local authority members to put in crash barriers". The jury at an inquest into the deaths of three young children last year had said that no motorway should be opened in future unless suitable barriers were in place.
Mr Hayes asked that a debate on road safety be held before Christmas so that the NRA would have a very clear view from the House concerning policy directives from politicians.
Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said that judging from what Mr Hayes had stated, the NRA were not inclined to take any notice of what politicians said. He had recently heard a representative of the authority on the radio.
"I thought I haven't ever heard such contemptuous arrogance from any representative of any public quango, in the attitude he took towards the decently proposed and articulated concerns of people about Tara. It certainly gave me no confidence that I could trust them".
Mr O'Toole said he wished to congratulate the newly-appointed chairman of the Oireachtas Environment Committee, Mr Seán Haughey, for emerging as "the soul of Fianna Fáil" on the controversial M3 motorway issue. Mr Haughey had shown himself to be courageous and independently minded and he spoke for many people on the Government side of the House who had similar concerns about the future of the historic site.
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Mr David Norris (Ind) said that material he had been given by the leader of the House last week about landings by a US Gulfstream aircraft at Shannon did not answer the queries he had put, but it did raise very serious questions.
It was clear that the relevant Minister had been made aware of reports that the aircraft had been involved in the kidnapping of citizens of other countries, and their transport to various locations for the purpose of torture.
This was now the subject of an international legal action by one of the victims and a protest by the Swedish government. It had been confirmed that the aircraft had landed at Shannon 13 times.
The aircraft had been assigned a new registration this year, added Mr Norris. He wanted to know what was the reason for this change.
It had misled the Minister, who had said on October 19th last, that the plane had not used Shannon in 2004.
However, the Minister later had to acknowledge that there had been three landings under the new call-sign.