I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this topic for discussion this evening and the Minister of State for coming in to reply.
The fatal road accident which is the subject of this Adjournment Debate led to the death of a 29 year old truck driver on the Naas dual carriageway at 7 a.m. on Thursday last, 23 January. The young man had an impeccable record of safe driving, was driving within the speed limit, as testified by the tachograph record, and he was driving a vehicle adjudged to be in a perfectly roadworthy condition when the fatal accident occurred.
All fatal road accidents are tragic but this was a particularly poignant case as the young man was due to get married in September. I understand a three vehicle pile-up caused the fatal accident and that this was a direct result of a patch of black ice at the point of impact on the dual carriageway. If this is proven to be the case, then the local authority for the area has a clear case to answer.
I am sorry the Minister for the Environment is not here to speak either on their behalf or on behalf of the National Roads Authority. It is unfortunate that matters which are the responsibility of either local authority or the National Roads Authority are not taken in this House; I wonder if we can devise a mechanism to allow that. The National Roads Authority is funded by taxpayers' money and there must be democratic accountability for its activities. Equally, local authorities are charged with the responsibility for gritting roads in their areas in icy conditions.
I ask the Minister of State to answer two questions. First, was the patch of ice notified to the local authority in advance of the time the fatal accident occurred? I have been told — although I cannot verify this — that a number of concerned motorists made telephone calls to that effect to the local authority from 5 a.m. onwards, and the accident occurred at 7 a.m. Second, if the local authority received such calls, why was this section of the road not gritted as a matter of urgency?
This was a serious accident resulting in a death and three people are still in hospital. In addition, the city bound side of the dual carriageway was blocked to all traffic for five and a half hours, including the morning rush hour, and the south bound side was reduced to a single lane. This horrific accident had major implications not just for those directly involved but also for motorists using that road.
All the factors that led to this horrific accident must be fully established and the lessons learned must be heeded. The Minister for the Environment must put in place a national policy of gritting roads with clear guidelines to be carried out uniformly by all local authorities. We do not have long periods of icy conditions on our roads but when we do there is a clear obligation to carry out gritting to secure the safety of motorists.
I ask the Minister to establish definitively the cause of this accident. There is a clear obligation on him, through the local authorities and the National Roads Authority, to ensure that this type of accident which was avoidable will never happen again.
