Noel Aherne - Minister for State Discussing Penalty Points

I was in the car on Wednesday evening (15th April 2009), and on the radio came Noel Aherne, Minister of State at the Department of Transport.

Noel Aherne TD - Minister for State

In the interview they discuss the new penalty points for failing to have an NCT, which will give you five penalty points. This will be the offence that carries the highest number of penalty points. The penalty points system up to this point was a sliding scale, where effectively, the more dangerous the offence, the higher the points.

With this new punishment (for what was already an offence), only a single conclusion can be drawn, it is an effort to get more money for the state, by ensuring more people get the NCT. I think every car that needs an NCT should get it, don't get me wrong, but ths punishment does not fit the crime.

Leaving that aside, the reason I am writing about this is because of Noel Aherne, and the attitude he took on the show. It was quite frankly, scandalous. If I lived in Dublin North West I can tell you I would never vote for this man.

Here are some choice quotes from Mr. Aherne:

When asked why the NCT offence carries twice the points of speeding, he responds:

"Well, that's the law..." - he's a TD, he is a member of the party that approved the law. That's what makes this statement so galling for me. He is being asked the question because he is a TD, and specifically one of the TD's who passed the law. He should know why they chose to make the punishment so harsh.

"You can sometimes bother yourself too much asking the why...". Oh dear God in heaven. If this sentence, coming from the mouth of a public representative does not bring you to near boiling point, I don't know what will. This line to me is one that is uttered by someone who considers himself to be the authority.

"...just accept that there are certain facts and that's one of them." - the second part of the the sentence above. How dare the interviewer ask a question, this is a fact, fucking accept it already. Again, neatly glossing over the fact that he is one of the people responsible for this law. That's right, it's a law, not a 'fact'.

The interviewer immediately pulls him up on this, saying "The government has decided to bring in a law and don't question it in anyway?" to which the inimitable Noel Aherne responds: "Well, it has been passed as passed by the Oireachteas some years back..." - Again, a lovely way of saying absolutely nothing, and again implying, it's the law, why are you asking me why it's the law?

Noel Aherne goes on to say that the statistics show that a "very large proportion of" cars in accidents are cars that are older than 6 years. This is where it gets even better, the interviewer points out that the statistics from the Road Safety Authority don't back that up at all. In fact 0.7% of accidents are blamed on poorly maintained vehicles. It is worth pointing out that the RSA are an agecny of the Department of Transport, so these figures are the governement figures on the matter. But Noel Aherne will not be held down by that: "Not the figures I've seen.".

That's fine, he's entitled to say that, of course, he will need to produce those figures... he clarifies a little more about the figures, that "cars that are old are more likely to have problems." That's a shocker, The Irish Times should hold the presses, old cards are more likely to have problems. So are old politicians. Again, called to task on the figures, and where he gets them from, a nice dodge: "I don't have them in front of me now."

Another classic comes out of his mouth: "You're going off on a total tangent..." because the interiewer has the audacity to question this law, rather than accepting it as fact, and talking about the announcement over the weekend, which was about this very offence!

"I have seen figures that are totally different to what you are saying", questioned on where the figures are sourced, again it's a dodge about not having them in front of him, pressed another time about the source of the figures, his response: "They would come from the department and from the RSA and reputable sources.".

So, if Noel Aherne is to be believed, the RSA is producing two sets of figures, one for the public which shows that poorly maintained vehicles are the cause of relatively few accidents, and another set of figures, that only Noel Aherne has seen that say that poorly maintained vehicles are to blame in a 'large proportion' of accidents. Noel Aherne's response to a more politely worded version of what I wrote: "absolutely".

"What I'm saying to you is totally accepted" - For the love of all that is holy, the audacity of this public representative. This is implying that the interviewer is being an idiot, everybody but you accepts these figures you silly little man.

The next part, if it wasn't bad enough already, Noel Aherne is about to set himself up as the definition of 'totally accepted':

Noel Aherne: What I'm saying to you is totally accepted.

Interviewer: Accepeted by who?

Noel Aherne: Well, certainly accepted by me.

I am oturaged by the arrogance of this man. If you aren't already by this article, listen to the podcast linked below. That will do it for you.

Noel Aherne on The Last Word (mp3) - interview starts at the 15 minute mark.