I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
- as of 10th May there have been 73 traffic fatalities this year, an increase of 30 per cent on 2023, the worst total in nearly a decade, and each death a tragedy for their families and loved ones;
- for too long the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has not been sharing data on road traffic collisions with local authorities due to General Data Protection Regulation concerns;
- roads, paths and cycleways across the country are in an appalling condition, with changing weather patterns due to climate change resulting in more severe storms and heavier rain leaving unprecedented damage behind;
- in both rural and urban local authorities there are unrepaired potholes, damaged surfaces, uneven paths, and broken or missing cycle lane separators, with not enough funding available to make necessary and essential repairs; and
- the 2024 Revised Estimates for the Department of Transport show a 3 per cent cut in regional and local roads investment leading to a direct reduction in the length of paths, local and regional roads that will be maintained and improved this year, with overall funding for road networks and road safety down 11 per cent, while Active Travel capital funding is down 12 per cent on 2023;
further notes that:
- the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority under section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, but most of the funding allocations under the regional and local roads programme have not increased since 2023;
- only €11 million was provided this year, the same as in 2023, for safety improvement works;
- increased congestion and larger vehicle sizes are exacerbating road disrepair, while older people, those with disabilities and parents with children are most affected by damaged footpaths;
- there has been a welcome increase in funding for Active Travel Projects in recent years but if allocations are unspent these cannot be redeployed for repair work, and there is no dedicated funding programme for the maintenance and restoration of existing footpaths or cycleways, with local authorities having to use own resources for this work; and
- in 2023 only a combined €135,000 was awarded under the regional and local roads programme to the four Dublin local authorities;
recognises that:
- additional Gardaí resources have been deployed to road safety policing, but more dedicated Gardaí are needed to ensure existing laws are enforced, and new measures from the Road Safety Act 2024 must be quickly implemented and the RSA must focus on tackling the causes of road traffic collisions;
- unrepaired road surfaces and paths are a danger to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, and if we are to encourage more people to switch to Active Travel then more investment in maintenance is needed;
- local authorities are not properly resourced to repair and maintain roads, paths and cycleways under the Active Travel Investment Programme and regional and local roads programme, and increased costs are reducing the amount of remediation work that can be carried out; and
- a failure to repair road surfaces and paths quickly leads to further deterioration, resulting in more expensive reinstatement at a later date; and
calls on the Government for:
- a renewed focus to reduce deaths and injuries on our roads, with increased enforcement by An Garda Síochána, and a new strategy from the RSA that addresses the concerns of all road users including cycling and pedestrian groups;
- the sharing of traffic collision location data covering both fatalities and injuries between the RSA and local authorities;
- a national inspection programme to ensure roads, cycleways and footpaths are at a suitable and safe standard, with a funded programme of audits in every local authority;
- an immediate increase in the allocation of funds for repair of damaged road surfaces;
- local authorities to be allocated Active Travel funds to repair and maintain existing paths and cycleways, and allowed to deploy unspent funding for maintenance works; and
- ringfenced funding to local authorities for the direct hiring of staff in road, cycleway and path maintenance and repair.
The House recognises, and the Labour Party has brought this motion forward due to the fact, that it is beyond clear that road safety as an issue is trending in the wrong direction. It is in danger of becoming an even bigger crisis than it has been in recent years. This year is on course to prove the most lethal for traffic fatalities in more than 15 years. All the good work and hard work done over many years since 2003 and 2004 is in danger of being completely erased. As of 10 May, there had been 73 traffic fatalities so far this year. This is an increase of 30% on 2023, which was the worst total in almost a decade. We only spoke about road safety last month in the House when we had statements on it, and the figure at that time was that 63 people had died in our roads. Figures also show that the increase in road deaths in Ireland since before the pandemic is the worst in the EU. It ranked fourth worst in 2023 in terms of fatality rates relative to 2022. We are past the time for working groups and expressions of concern. We need urgent action from the Government. Every death is a tragedy for families and loved ones, who will forever grieve the preventable loss of someone they love so much. Of course, it is not only deaths but the many life-changing and life-altering injuries that occur on our roads.
There has been consistent mismanaging of road safety and broader issues for drivers. These include the outrageous backlog of driving tests the Government has failed to tackle. More than 86,000 people are waiting to book or take a driving test, including 31,000 people in our capital city. The Government knows as well as I do this encourages people to drive illegally on learner permits and it allows young drivers to pick up general bad habits. When, at the end of any argument, Government members or senior figures try to say a lot of this is down to poor driver behaviour, it is not the get-out they think it is. Poor driver behaviour is down to not having enough lessons, not doing the test and bedding in general bad habits when people are learning to drive and in their early months and years on the road. Only last October, we saw a figure that indicated up to 30,000 people on their third or subsequent provisional driver licence have never sat a driving test. This is 30,000 people on our roads who have never sat a driver test and should have. Some learners have been driving for up to 30 years without ever holding a full licence. It is incredible to think that is the case in 2024 in our country. With such large waiting lists, it is almost a certainty that these figures will have risen and will continue to rise. This puts drivers, including young drivers, pedestrians and all road users at risk.
We have some data on road deaths that show almost half of Ireland's road deaths this year have involved people under the age of 30. They now represent 41% of all traffic fatalities. As the motion calls for, we need to see more data being shared. For too long the Road Safety Authority has been unable to share data on road traffic collisions with local authorities due to GDPR concerns. I know the Minister of State is working on legislation to amend this. Part of the motion is to put pressure on him to ensure the amending legislation is brought through as quickly as possible.
We also need to have a serious conversation about the shortcomings of the Road Safety Authority. Only last month, 30 road safety advocacy groups declared no confidence in the RSA and stated it is no longer fit for purpose. They stated it was focused on those with least capacity to make a difference on road safety rather than those with the most. For example, it has given 40,000 high visibility vests to preschoolers but it does not support active travel projects, remains silent in debates over walking and cycling infrastructure, and does not comment on lenient sentencing and unsound court judgments or court arguments. We couple this with the chronic waiting list for driver tests and instances of the RSA not renewing driver testers on temporary contracts to tackle the backlog in driving tests. This is something I have raised in the transport committee with the unions. I have written to the RSA about this also. Questions need to be asked of the RSA. The RSA needs to have a big role in tackling road safety but there is a responsibility on it to do more and to do better. We also want to make clear that the RSA does not have sole responsibility for this. Ultimate responsibility lies with the Government and Ministers, including the Minister of State, the Minister for Justice when it comes to enforcement of legislation, and the Minister for local government when it comes to budgets for local authorities, which I will discuss later.
Some things are clear from the data. We need to see impactful solutions and resourcing from the Government. We just have to look at the figures for the Garda roads policing units. The units have 627 members, which is a reduction from 688 last year and 692 in 2022. Let us take the figure for 2009, when there were 1,055 members of the Garda roads policing unit. The unit's strength is down 37%, or by more than one third, since 2009. This is at a time when our population has increased by more than 1 million. Today, the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will appear before the transport committee and state the Garda is actively recruiting to the roads policing unit and that he hopes to get 55 more gardaí attached to it. He will also speak about the half hour per shift each ordinary garda has to dedicate to road safety. To take the first point, if he achieves the target of adding 55 new people to roads policing units this year, we will still be miles away from the levels we had in 2009. As for the 30 minutes of road safety policing, at the transport committee today the Commissioner will state there has been an increase in detections of mobile phone use, drug driving and drink driving. This is good but we all know that 30 minutes per shift is an unsustainable solution. It is a short-term, eye-catching measure. It shows that when we give resources to the Garda and increase resources we catch more people engaging in the dangerous behaviours of drug and drink driving, distraction with regard to mobile phone use and speeding. This is why we need to drastically increase the number of gardaí dedicated to the roads policing unit. The numbers the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will mention today will not come anywhere near this. The Government and the Minister for Justice in particular need to take that on board.
We need to take drastic choices on road safety. I implore the Minister of State and the Government to work with the Opposition to get meaningful and important legislation passed. This motion is an example of an opportunity where we can see this in terms of the Government offering its full support and backing it with tangible processes to help deliver an improvement. The Labour Party has a Bill coming to the House in my name in June, which I hope the Government will support. It relates to the non-consensual recording of road traffic accidents. Second Stage of the Bill will be taken on a Thursday evening in June. We all know there is a grotesque phenomenon of people recording the aftermath of road traffic incidents. That is bad enough but the sharing of such images on social media platforms is disgusting and despicable. I hope the Minister of State will support the Bill on Second Stage. We are not precious about the manner in which it goes through the Houses. If it can be turned into an amendment to an existing Bill, we will accept that. We think it would send a strong message that this behaviour on our roads is absolutely unforgivable and something that no just and decent society would tolerate.
Another important aspect of the motion relates to road maintenance and the condition of our roads. Every time we are out, whether in the teeth of an election, as we are now, or two or three years from an election, we hear that the condition of our roads is appalling.
Funding has flatlined in some areas and decreased in others. There are inflationary pressures, of course, but we believe there is a political decision not to invest in basic road maintenance, including surfacing. That is something that cannot be allowed to continue. The amending legislation the Minister of State will introduce to deal with GDPR issues will allow the necessary sharing of data with local authorities. We know from local evidence and from speaking to people on the ground when accidents occur that road surfacing is going to become an even greater cause of road accidents. It will no longer be tolerable to stand over the lack of funding for road maintenance and repair.
I hope the Minister of State understands our reasons for tabling this motion. Labour holds the issues of road safety and road deaths very seriously. We want to see an improvement. We want to work with the Minister of State and everyone else in the House to reduce deaths and serious injuries and to improve safety on our roads. This is not just the Minister of State’s responsibility – it is also the responsibility of other Ministers and the RSA – but he is the one holding the torch, so we ask that he support our motion and put in place processes to improve the condition of our roads and the lives of people using them.