1. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Transport for an update on his Department’s work on road safety, including road maintenance, to tackle the continuing rise in road fatalities. [28968/24]

Deputy Martin Kenny: I wish to ask for an update on the Department's budget for road safety, in particular road maintenance, to deal with the issue of fatalities and people getting hurt on our roads in accidents over the past while. There has been a lull in the numbers in recent weeks, in that we thankfully have not had as many fatalities, but a large number of people have just lost their lives on our roads over the past 36 hours. For me and the many road safety campaigners, this brings into sharp focus the Government's failure to put adequate measures in place to protect road users.

James Lawless, Minister of State at the Department of Transport: I look forward to working with the Deputy in this brief. His is Sinn Féin's spokesperson on transport and I know from the justice committee, where we worked together well, that he will be diligent in that regard. I look forward to continuing that relationship now that we are both in new roles.

I extend my sympathies to the families of those who sadly lost their lives over last weekend and the past night or two. I am sure everyone in the House will agree that one fatality is one too many. However, this is a complex area with many factors. The four main causes of road deaths are speeding, driver distraction, not wearing a seatbelt and intoxicated driving. These are behaviours that have been systematically addressed by the Road Traffic Act 2024, which was introduced by my predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and signed into law in April, followed in some cases where appropriate by regulations in May. Among other measures across vehicle types and scenarios, the Act legislates for safer default speed limits, which will first be rolled out on local roads this November, harsher penalties for those caught committing multiple driving offences, with multiple penalty points becoming applicable rather than just one set of points as was previously the case, and mandatory drug testing at the scene of a collision. The mandatory drug testing provisions were commenced on 31 May in time for the June bank holiday and the penalty point provisions are being worked towards commencement over the summer. The new speed limits will kick in on a staggered basis, with the focus being on local roads towards the end of this year.

The new legislation complements increased enforcement activity. The House will be aware that uniformed gardaí will now implement 30-minute shifts on road policing duties in the course of their normal shifts. This rostering was announced by the Commissioner and will have an impact.

The Deputy referred to patterns. I appreciate that one is one too many, but if I may, I will cite the statistics. We moved from a monthly average of 20 deaths in January, February and March to 11 in the second quarter of the year. This coincided with the introduction of the new road traffic legislation and the regulations flowing from that. The issue is going in the right way despite the recent tragedies.

Deputy Martin Kenny: I welcome the Minister of State to his new role and look forward to working with him. He and I get on well on a personal level, but where this matter is concerned, there are issues with policy and the fact that, in my view and that of many others, the Government’s commitment to provide the safety measures we need on our roads has not been followed through on adequately.

The Minister of State is correct to point out that speeding, intoxication and drivers getting distracted by, for example, using mobile phones are issues that continually arise in road traffic collisions and fatalities. We do not have the level of enforcement we need. The primary element of that enforcement is gardaí monitoring our roads and protecting the people on them. This is not about having speed cameras, which are a one-trick pony, but about having gardaí out monitoring the roads. We have not had enough of that for the past two decades or so. In the past decade, roads policing numbers have been cut and cut again. That serious matter is the core of this issue.

We have major problems with what used to be called accident black spots on many of our local and rural roads. There are many such areas in my constituency. All local authorities are looking for funding to work on them, but they cannot get the funding from the Government that they need to provide an adequate level of road maintenance and to ensure that safety measures are put in place at such locations.

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Dáil Éireann debate. Vol. 1057 No.2 Question 2 – Priority questions – Road safety [28970/24]

2. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Transport if he will provide an update on safety measures for staff and passengers onboard public transport. [28970/24]

Deputy Martin Kenny: Will the Minister provide an update on the measures he is taking to ensure passengers are kept safe on board our public transport infrastructure throughout the country? As he will be aware, we have had several incidents over the years whereby workers on public transport have been attacked and verbally abused. People do not want to work driving buses, trains or trams any more because of these issues. We also have big issues with passengers feeling endangered. There is open drug dealing and people using threatening and abusive behaviour towards other commuters. People do not feel they have safe public transport, particularly late in the evenings in our capital city. It has become very dangerous to use public transport. We have long called for the application of a public transport policing system to be put in place and we need to see it happen as quickly as possible.

Eamon Ryan, Minister for Transport: Antisocial behaviour is a societal issue to which public transport is, unfortunately, not immune. Those who regularly use and work in our public transport system are most directly impacted by any incident that occurs on the network. I assure the Deputy that all public transport operators are expending significant resources introducing measures to counter the impact of antisocial behaviour and ensuring the safety and security of public transport passengers and staff. For example, the entire Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann, Luas, Go-Ahead and Bus Éireann fleets are fully fitted with CCTV cameras and radios.

Irish Rail has also established enhanced joint protocols with the Garda nationally and locally, including the establishment of rapid response support hubs in 14 locations for intercity services, with staff having direct lines to the Garda for incident support. Further, a joint initiative between public transport providers and An Garda Síochána community engagement units has seen hubs established at Heuston Plaza, Connolly Plaza and Broombridge. Transdev has introduced a new initiative on a pilot basis, using its mobile app, whereby Luas customers can communicate directly through the app with the operator's control room and report an incident of anti-social behaviour as it is happening.

I fully support all of this work, in particular the ongoing positive engagement between An Garda Síochána and the various public transport operators on the issue of safety on public transport. Indeed, officials from the Department met with representatives from the public transport operators, unions, and passenger groups at the recent national sustainable mobility forum in a dedicated workshop on safety and security. The Department and the National Transport Authority, NTA, will continue to carry forward this work with those stakeholders to help ensure the safety of staff and passengers on public transport.

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54. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Transport to provide an update on his Department’s efforts to increase road safety and reduce road fatalities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28197/24]

James Lawless, Minister of State at the Department of Transport: The Government’s Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030, which was published in December 2021, has the target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 50% this decade and achieving Vision Zero by 2050. Vision Zero has been adopted across the EU and aims to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

The strategy is currently in Phase 1, which runs to the end of 2024, with close to 200 actions underway or already completed. Notable deliverables to date include the publication of the Speed Limit Review in September 2023, which was also a commitment in the current Programme for Government, and the publication of an updated National Cycle Manual. Work is currently underway to implement the first set of new default speed limits—of 60km/h on rural, local roads—before the end of the year.

A range of targeted measures have been put in place in recent months to help reverse the current increase in fatalities such as the enactment of the Road Traffic Act 2024 in April, commencement of 30 minutes high-visibility roads policing per shift for all uniformed members of An Garda Síochána, and significantly increased spending on public awareness campaigns by the RSA. The Road Traffic Act introduces mandatory drug testing at the scene of serious traffic collisions and reforms the penalty points system so motorists receive multiple sets of penalty points where multiple offences are committed.

A number of high-impact actions have also been prioritised for delivery in the second half of 2024, including the rollout of three new average speed camera zones, publication of a national safety camera strategy, commencement of safer default speed limits on rural, local roads, and tackling the multiple learner permit issue. Work has also commenced on reviewing the driver curriculum, and funding has been allocated to media, education and awareness campaigns.

In addition to closing out Phase 1 of the strategy in 2024, the Phase 2 Action plan is under development, which will target impactful actions under the safe system approach for the period 2025 - 2027.

In order to ensure road user advocates have the opportunity to contribute to the Phase 2 Action Plan, my Department together with the Road Safety Authority are in the process of establishing a new Road User Safety Forum, comprising road users and road safety advocates.

Whilst I appreciate it is of little comfort to those whom have lost loved ones on the roads, the trend in the year to date has been downwards, with an average of just under 20 fatalities per month in the first quarter of 2024 followed by a monthly average of 11 in the second quarter of this year. Notwithstanding recent tragic accidents, the reduction does coincide with the measures outlined above.

Road safety is a foremost priority for me and this Government. Everyone is entitled to use our roads and, importantly, to be safe on our roads.