Road Safety: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-30 ============================================================ Mark Duffy (FG), Labour Panel I thank the Minister of State for being here and for his work to date on road safety. It is such an important topic and is something that we have worked together on at different stages, including in my role on the Oireachtas Jooint Committee on Transport and in his ministerial brief. In recent years, we have seen new challenges that have threatened road safety, including pedestrian safety and cyclist safety. That comes in the form of scramblers and e-scooters, which have proliferated through towns, villages, cities and neighbourhoods and terrorised vulnerable road users across the country in an unprecedented way. We have also seen the rise of wrong-way driving and intentional vigilantism on motorways, which is breeding huge fear and anxiety in night-time drivers on motorways. It has caused insufferable tragedies to families across the country. It is something that is not just an Irish problem. As with most problems we discuss in this House, there is a broader context across the Continent and the globe. In our work in the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, we have tried to be constructive and proactive in addressing the different challenges that I have just outlined. We have done it in a consultative way as much as possible, led by the Chair, Deputy Michael Murphy. We engaged with the Irish Motorcycle Association in one meeting to talk about the safety from its point of view. We have engaged with the Irish Road Haulage Association to discuss its vulnerabilities, challenges and blind spots as large road users. We also engaged with PARC, the victim group, and the Irish Road Victims Association, IRVA, to hear first-hand the unimaginable impact that a fatality has on a loved one, family member or friend, and the life-altering injuries that are associated with road traffic accidents. We also engaged with cyclists. We recently engaged with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána just this morning as part of a comprehensive review of road safety. I know that the Minister of State is well aware of many of the matters that have been outlined at the committee, but this is a good opportunity for a broader discussion across this Chamber because we all have experience that we can offer. I note the unprecedented levels of public transport, which can help move people to a safer mode of transport. I would welcome a continuation of investment into public transport routes across the country. Local Link in my home county of Mayo is a great example of that. We have additional proposals that we would like to see realised. We are speaking about road safety, and while I am conscious that discussions around Local Link may be a degree removed, they are inextricably linked, as we can take people out of vulnerable situations and connect them with safe and accessible public transport. There are a whole range of interventions that can be made. I will use a local example. The fixed speed cameras have created a marked improvement in terms of accidents and fatalities on certain black spots on junctions in County Mayo along the N5 and N17. They were notorious areas of difficulty and blackspots and have benefited from a fixed speed zone. There have been teething challenges in other parts of the country. The intention, merit and spirit of what is being done is to try to improve road safety, not penalise motorists needlessly. It is important that we do not cynically target motorists in areas where they are easily caught, but instead challenge road safety head on and have that and nothing else as the priority. We also need to consider our built environment. I ask for and encourage as much investment as possible in low-cost safety measures to make sure that our towns, villages and neighbourhoods are safe places where pedestrians and cyclists feel safe, are protected by strong and proper kerbing and routes and do not feel vulnerable in the built environment. I welcome the reduction in speed limits in certain neighbourhoods and the autonomy given to local authorities in that space. As a former member of Mayo County Council, I will voice my frustration at times in trying to respond to reports of dangerous areas through applications for low-cost safety measures. There needs to be a more responsive funding scheme. Where there is an incident or tragedy, there is a wait of 12 months before applying for low-cost safety measures and there may be a wait for a number of months to be funded. It may take another number of months for the work to go to tender and more time for the contractor to complete the works. This is something that is difficult for anyone in the community to take if there has been a serious incident or challenge where it has been recognised that improvements need to be made. I would welcome a more swift and agile response on decisions and a rolling fund for low-cost safety measures such as pedestrian crossings and ramps in neighbourhoods. To be honest, those competencies should be devolved to local authorities rather than applications having to be submitted to the Department. The Department has much bigger projects to deal with. There is a need for overall education and awareness, which need to be constantly reaffirmed. I recently met the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and I am encouraged by its leadership team. The people I met are very passionate about road safety. It is important that we all acknowledge its role in awareness and education, in particular. That is not something that can be done once and a box ticked. There needs to be constant engagement. The roadshows it holds regionally are incredible in terms of their impact on young people, in particular, who are starting out in the world and who have a higher statistical likelihood of a fatality than other road users. I commend the RSA on its work. It has faced challenges in the past, but I hope we are moving in the right direction in terms of the awareness piece. There are unprecedented challenges. The opportunity to discuss this issue today is a very welcome one because a silver bullet will not fix this. We require an all-of-society and all-of-government approach to make sure that we protect road users, pedestrians and cyclists across the board and make it a safer environment for all users. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-30/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-30