Road Safety: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-30 ============================================================ Teresa Costello (FF), Agricultural Panel Senator Flynn can talk to me outside but she should not shout across the Chamber at me. Anybody who watched TV3 last night will have been deeply concerned by what they saw. It is frightening to see lives lost because of reckless behaviour on our roads. Every time we use our roads, whether as motorists, cyclists, pedestrians or passengers, we are vulnerable. A moment of recklessness, distraction or impairment can have devastating and irreversible consequences. Today, I could not stand here without talking about nitrous oxide consumption while driving. It requires far greater attention than it is getting. I have been raising concerns about this issue for some time because I have seen the evidence of nitrous oxide use across my own community. I have received repeated reports of people consuming it in cars. I have personally seen people driving with a balloon in their mouth, consuming nitrous oxide and sharing road space with innocent people going about their day, and it is only luck preventing a catastrophe. We need to understand just how dangerous it is. When nitrous oxide is inhaled, the effects can be almost immediate. A person can experience a brief but intense feeling of euphoria, or a high, but they can also experience dizziness, disorientation, impaired co-ordination and reduced awareness of what is happening around them. Imagine experiencing those effects when you are behind the wheel of a car. A driver needs to be alert to react instantly to a pedestrian stepping onto the road, a cyclist changing position, a car braking in front of them or any unexpected hazard. There is simply no place for deliberately impairing yourself while in control of a vehicle. Recently, I spent one hour driving around Tallaght with my good friend, local volunteer and former Tallaght Person of the Year, Nico Crowley. In that single hour, we collected 198 discarded nitrous oxide canisters. Some were found alongside roadsides, including close to the M50 slip road. Where they were located, combined with what I have witnessed and the reports I continue to receive, raises very serious questions about nitrous oxide use while driving. I will make another point really clearly. There can be a temptation to dismiss this as something confined to just young people. That is not what I am hearing and seeing. I am receiving reports of adults consuming nitrous oxide in parked cars and parking bays. I am hearing reports of people dressed for work, people sitting in expensive cars and people in branded work vans consuming it. This is not about demonising any particular age group. It is about recognising a dangerous behaviour for what it is - a serious road safety risk. That is why I am calling for nitrous oxide to be specifically addressed within the prohibited substances framework under our road traffic legislation. Our laws must keep pace with changes in behaviour and emerging threats on our roads. If people are consuming a substance that causes disorientation, dizziness and impaired co-ordination and then getting behind the wheel, enforcement authorities need an effective legal framework to respond. I will continue to highlight the dangers of nitrous oxide consumption while driving and I ask the relevant authorities and the Minister of State to examine urgently what further legislative and enforcement measures are needed. It is simple. If people are driving, they must be fully in control. Consuming nitrous oxide behind the wheel puts drivers, their passengers and every other person on the road at risk. It is an emerging road safety issue and it is a serious one. --- 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