No law on mobiles until 2006

A law banning the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving will not come into effect until the end of next year at the earliest, it has emerged.

The Department of Transport said this week it was in the "final stages" of preparing legislation but a spokesman for Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, told The Irish Times yesterday that the legislation was only the beginning of the process.

"The first priority is to get it approved by the Government, then the Dáil," the spokesman said. "This needs a modern Act passed by the Oireachtas so the Minister can then make regulations. Currently he cannot act."

He said it would be "towards the end of 2006 or into 2007" before motorists face prosecution under any new law. The Government's term in office ends in June 2007.

"We're always at the mercy of the party whips trying to get Dáil time," the spokesman added. And, even when the legislation has passed through the Dáil and Seanad, a "variety of issues" will have to be ironed out before the new law comes into force.

However, there are "no plans" to ban the use of "hands-free" kits by motorists although it was "something we will keep under review. Clearly this is not straight forward," the spokesman said.

"The priority is to address the issue of people using mobiles in their hands while driving and the negative impact that has on road safety," he said.

At this stage it's unclear which devices will be deemed "hands-free". A range of devices are available from fixed kits which are installed in cars to ear pieces which are simply plugged into phones - or, more recently wireless blue-tooth devices.

Text messaging while driving is expected to be outlawed but no decision has yet been made on the contentious issue of exemptions.

Representatives of taxi drivers are likely to argue that they need to use hand-held devices as part of their job, while emergency services will also be seeking an exemption from any ban.

When penalty points were introduced by Seamus Brennan in 2002, the mobile phone ban was included in a list of 69 offences. Using a mobile phone while driving was to incur one point on a driver's licence but gardaí have not been able to enforce the penalty because of the lack of primary legislation.

In the absence of appropriate legislation motorists now face prosecution for the offence of careless driving, five penalty points, a fine and a mandatory court appearance.

Legislation to complement a mobile phone ban was first brought forward by Bobby Molloy, then minister of state for the environment, in 2002.

The proposed regulations said drivers could not hold or have on their person a switched-on mobile phone while in their vehicle, unless the vehicle was parked.

The Garda Commissioner referred the legislation to the Attorney General for clarification, as the blanket ban would have included emergency services. The legislation was eventually withdrawn.