Minister of State at the Department of Transport (Deputy Seán Canney): I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I too welcome everyone in the Public Gallery to listen to the statements today. I welcome the opportunity to address the House and to update Members on the recently published National Safety Camera Strategy, and on road safety matters more generally. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, will deliver the closing statement.

As many Deputies will be aware, the last five years have seen an increase in road-related fatalities and serious injuries. Last year was a particularly dark year when, tragically, 188 people lost their lives on roads, the highest total in a decade. While we have made great strides since our first national road safety strategy began in 1998, that progress is now in the past and we must do more to restore the downward trend of fatalities and serious injuries on our roads. Each death and serious injury impacts not just on the victim but on their family, their friends and the wider community.

The four main causes of fatalities on our roads have been consistent over time and remain: speeding, distraction, not wearing a seatbelt and intoxicated driving. All four come down to driver behaviour and personal responsibility on the part of road users. Tackling dangerous behaviours can be addressed through road safety education and public awareness campaigns, enforcement of road traffic laws, improved engineering of our road spaces and longer-term legislative reform. We are working on multiple fronts to address these problems. Let me be clear that this Government is committed to improving road safety and reducing fatalities and serious injuries.

The current national framework for road safety is set out in the Government’s fifth Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, which was launched in December 2021. The strategy aligns with EU and UN targets and is based on the safe system approach, which is forgiving of individual human error. It aims to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50% this decade, and to achieving Vision Zero, which is as close as possible to zero fatalities or serious injuries on Irish roads, by 2050.

The phase 2 action plan under the road safety strategy was published by my Department in July of last year for the period 2025 to 2027. This action plan comprises 12 primary transformative actions and 77 support actions. Delivering the action plan is a collaborative effort involving my Department and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, together with An Garda Síochána, the Road Safety Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the National Transport Authority, the Courts Service, the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, the Health and Safety Authority and local authorities....

...Deputy Pa Daly: We also heard from Dr. Sheila Gilheany from Alcohol Action Ireland at the Joint Committee on Transport's meeting this morning. She stated that alcohol is factor in 35% of deaths on Irish roads. In places like Australia, the number stands at 14%. The answers are obvious, because we are not tackling this matter in the way we did back in 2007. The number of stops and checks is in free fall. In the context of the gardaí we do have, there are serious issues as well, which we saw outlined in the Crowe report. That report not only made it clear that roads policing was under-resourced and ineffective but also that there are other issues....

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