Vol. 1049 No. 1
1. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Transport if he can outline what measures are being taken to improve road safety, including those related to road maintenance and upgrade works expected on road projects as part of the national development plan. [4818/24]
This is quite a difficult morning for people in Carlow. Three people were killed on the road last night. Last year we had record numbers of deaths on our roads. In January we saw so many families unfortunately being ravaged by the tragedy of road deaths. We have spoken on this on many occasions. I know some proposals have come forward for measures in regard to road safety but clearly they are not working. We need a redoubling of efforts to ensure we make our roads safer for everyone to use.
I share the Deputy's sympathies with the families of the three people who were killed in Carlow overnight.
Published in December 2021, the Government’s road safety strategy for 2021 to 2030 has the target of reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 50% this decade. It is underpinned by the Vision Zero policy. Vision Zero has been adopted across the EU and aims to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads. The second annual review of the road safety strategy took place on 18 January, where a wide range of road safety stakeholders considered progress to date and what we can prioritise to have an impact in 2024. Specific priorities for the coming months include the development of a national strategy for camera-based enforcement, addressing the multiple learner permit issue and improving many of the road safety education initiatives.
Work has commenced on implementing the recommendations of the speed limit review, published last September. Updated guidelines for local authorities are expected to be concluded this quarter and the safer default speed limits called for by the review will be legislated for by the Road Traffic Bill 2024, which will be coming before the Dáil in the next couple of weeks. This is a concise Bill focused on key road safety issues, and in addition to legislating for safer default speed limits, it will also introduce mandatory drug testing at the scene of serious traffic collisions and reform the penalty points system so motorists receive multiple sets of penalty points where multiple offences are committed.
The delivery of a national roads network that is safe and robust is a key priority of Government. As part of the national development plan, a number of new roads projects are being developed, which in many cases replace existing roads with a poor safety rating. An example of such a road is the N22 Ballyvourney to Macroom project. Furthermore, TII’s protection and renewal programme for existing roads has safety as a primary focus. This funds vital work including minor upgrades to realign roads at dangerous bends, and pavement repair.
It is also important to emphasise that road traffic legislation is enforced as part of the day-to-day duties of all members of An Garda Síochána. Road safety is a foremost priority for me. It is important that we strengthen the number of road safety initiatives this year.
The difficulty here is that we do not believe that the projects you are putting forward are actually working and delivering. In The Irish Times this week we have seen a report that the Department of Transport wrote to the RSA in 2023 and asked for a plan in regard to enhanced road safety. It came back with that plan and the RSA looked for funding of €6 million to roll it out. The Department of Transport said no, we are not going to do that. Unless we back these things up with actual funding to deliver them, there is no point in talking about them. We have all of this talk of reduced speed limits and all of that, which may be very worthy and I am sure in many cases are the logical thing to do, but the biggest problem we have got is enforcement. If we do not enhance enforcement, we cannot keep bringing in new laws and nothing there to make people abide by them. In September in the Irish Examiner Conor Faughnan, the CEO of Royal Irish Automobile Club, said that the most important thing is enforcement. That is identified internationally yet the Government continues to fail on it.
What you failed to mention in your contribution was that the Road Safety Authority sought additional allocation for additional initiatives. It has significant reserves as an agency and it was then permitted to spend €5.6 million in additional campaigns to underpin additional initiatives. You did not give the full picture in your contribution. Also, you dismissed reducing speed limits when you said “speed limits and all of that”. It is not “all of that.” It is a core part of protecting vulnerable road users.
Only if you have gardaí.
I did not dismiss it.
It has a significant evidence base. If Sinn Féin is going to play a populist line on speed limits, I ask you to get behind the actual evidence and support that initiative in the Oireachtas rather than trying to divide opinion. When it comes to the issue of enforcement, yes, it needs to improve and yes, the Garda does need to provide additional prioritization of enforcement in the context of their overall numbers. We have significant recruitment happening this year and there should be a roads policing dividend from that. Also, the camera-based enforcement strategy which we are working on aims to advance the technological opportunities that exist for better camera-based enforcement to complement the work of the roads policing unit. That is something we are keen to advance as well. Enforcement does need to improve to underpin the wider reforms that we are trying to advance.
The roads policing unit the Minister of State is talking about has had its numbers cut consecutively every year for the past ten years. Bringing in new laws to reduce speed is welcome and appropriate on many roads. There is no problem with that; nobody is saying otherwise. Nobody is disagreeing with the Minister of State there. The problem is that on most roads there are no gardaí to enforce the limits. That is the reality around most parts of the country. The Minister of State knows that as well as I do. People see all of this being rolled out by the Government. The Minister of State had a previous proposal to have different levels of penalty points for weekdays rather than weekends and had to withdraw it. I said at the time that it was not going to work and that we needed to have prelegislative scrutiny but the Minister of State refused to do that. It was clear to me and to any logical person that we cannot have one law for one day of the week and a different law for another. The Minister of State had to pull back from that. Now he is telling us that the measures he is putting in place are going to work. We do not see the investment. We do not see the numbers in roads policing being put in place to do that.
We also have a huge problem in the country of accident blackspots on very dangerous bends, dangerous corners and difficult situations that need to be resolved. Local authorities are looking for funding and they are continually banging their heads off a brick wall and not getting adequate funding to deliver them. We have pinch points in many areas of the country where these accidents continue to happen, yet the Government continues to ignore it.
That is not true. There is a lot of work between local authorities and Transport Infrastructure Ireland on investing in specific dangerous junctions. There is a work programme around that where there are improvements on certain roads. TII will set out further information on that. The legislation we are trying to advance has a core evidence base, addressing speed limits and anomalies around penalty points.
Enforcement.
I take the wider concern from the Deputy, others and certainly the victims' organisations on the need to improve enforcement. That is something I raise at every meeting I have with An Garda Síochána and senior management in An Garda Síochána. We do need to see enforcement improve and we need to see the numbers in roads policing units improve. I am not dismissing that point. It is an absolute priority for me. If the reforms we are going to progress, along with existing legislation and policy, are going to have a further effect, we need to see strengthening of enforcement from a roads policing and road safety perspective. I am not at all dismissing that as a necessity to address the wider behavioural issues we are seeing on our roads and the culture of recklessness which exists among certain cohorts of drivers.
There needs to be a robust enforcement response and I am absolutely clear about that in all my engagements with An Garda Síochána. I am not dismissing that point.
2. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if he is satisfied with the method used to calculate passenger numbers at Dublin Airport and if he will take action to ensure that the airport remains within the passenger cap. [4820/24]
It was revealed last weekend in The Irish Times that the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, is cooking the books in terms of the numbers of passengers going through the airport and, in reality, is breaching the passenger cap. If all passengers going through the airport were properly counted, the airport would have breached the 32 million passengers per annum cap by more than 1 million. What action will the Department take to ensure that the airport maintains the passenger cap?
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Dublin Airport Authority has statutory responsibility for the management, operation and development of Dublin Airport. The cap of 32 million passengers per annum currently in place at the airport is a condition attached to the planning permission granted for Terminal 2. The condition was put in place principally to limit the amount of traffic pressure on the access infrastructure, roads and public transport at Dublin Airport.
The publication of the 2023 passenger figures by DAA last week show continued strong growth in demand for air travel post Covid-19 at both Dublin and Cork airports. Indeed, all airports in the State have reported very strong recovery in traffic with most experiencing record levels of traffic in 2023.
When publishing its passenger figures for 2023 last week, DAA set out the methodology it used for the enumeration of passengers. In summary, it reported that: the total number of passengers that passed through the two terminals at Dublin airport was 31.9 million, 1.08 million connecting passengers used the airport terminals and a further group of 532,000 people included transit passengers who do not leave the plane, search-and-rescue and air ambulance passengers.
All planning matters, including the interpretation or enforcement of conditions or decisions, are matters for the statutorily independent planning bodies. In this instance that is the relevant planning authority, Fingal County Council. I or, indeed, the Government have no role in such matters.
As I am sure the Deputy will be aware, DAA recently submitted a planning application to Fingal County Council seeking to increase the passenger cap to 40 million passengers per annum and seeking planning permission for capacity enhancing projects, including new aircraft piers and stands as part of the airport's capital investment programme.
DAA has indicated that it will continue to manage wider passenger capacity through the terminals at Dublin Airport to ensure that the planning conditions are not breached. To ensure compliance with the 32 million passenger cap, it is engaging with wider stakeholders regarding the management of capacity at the airport in 2024.
I raised this with the Minister, and I had the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers answer me, on 30 November. The Minister of State assured me then that "the CEO of the DAA has confirmed that, until planning permission ... is granted, it will continue to manage passenger capacity ... to ensure this planning condition [of 32 million] is not breached." DAA is breaching it. It is in the newspapers.
Is the Minister of State seriously telling me that the Government accepts the idea that if a passenger does not set foot in terminal 1 or terminal 2, but he or she goes through the airport, he or she is not a passenger going through Dublin Airport? Is the Minister of State seriously telling me that we can exclude more than 1 million people connecting flights? Arguably, that equals 2 million - an incoming flight and an outgoing flight. In addition, it excludes more than 500,000 people who did not set foot in the airports two terminals.
Do these figures exclude private jet passengers? Do they count, because they do not go through terminals 1 and 2? The passenger cap only applies to ordinary people flying on ordinary planes and not on the super rich, and that is perhaps why DAA could assure US business lobbyists a few weeks ago that they can "comfortably handle" an increased number of private jets.
As I stated in my previous response, they provided the methodology in how the passenger cap is calculated and its enumeration. The total number of number passengers that passed through the terminals was 31.9 million, in excess of 1 million connecting passengers use the airport terminals and more than 500,000 included transit passengers did not leave the plane or were search-and-rescue and air ambulance passengers.
The other important point is that the condition, which was put in place around this specific passenger cap, related to infrastructure, roads and public transport at Dublin Airport.
The Government does not provide the interpretation on a planning decision. That is a matter for Fingal County Council, as the relevant planning authority. We do not have a specific role in such matters. It is the same for enforcement of any planning condition.
The DAA has provided the methodology all right and the methodology says we are cooking the books. The Minister of State is telling me that the Government and a Department led by a Green Minister does not mind and says that it is nothing to do with them.
Are private jet customers included? Are they included in the figure that keeps under 32 million cap the 31.9 million figure which DAA uses after effectively cooking the books? It is not sustainable. I accept what the Minister of State said about roads, etc., but in terms of climate targets and not burning our planet, it is not sustainable to keep expanding the number of flights that are going through our country and other countries. Surely, it should be a policy goal of the Government to stop that happening. Obviously, that is not the case. The Taoiseach said he is in favour of increasing the passenger cap. Surely the Government and the Department should have a position. It seems the planning permission conditions are being flouted, effectively, by using this methodology that the Minister of State referred to which is a dubious methodology, and the Government should have a position on it.
The matters relating to enforcement of a planning decision are a matter for Fingal County Council, as the relevant planning authority. They will assess the methodology used in the enumeration of passengers. As I have said, if one reads the planning condition, it relates to pressure on infrastructure roads and public transport.
Dublin Airport and, indeed, the wider economic approach will require an increase in the passenger cap if we want to continue to be connected as an island and as a country and to continue to remain competitive. That is why our national aviation policy is about facilitating increased opportunities for Dublin Airport to expand as a passenger hub, and I support that. That obviously will take time to work through the planning system but it is important to keep opportunities for competition in our airport and connectivity, which is a key facilitator of economic development. That is something that I support. As I said, it is working through the planning process at present.
3. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Transport if he can provide an update on the current progress of the BusConnects programme; the possibility of integrating timetables between other forms of public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4819/24]
BusConnects is about expanding the network, about putting in new lanes and about delivering a better service, in particular, across the city of Dublin and in other cities. To look at the Dublin situation, I understand there are also issues here in regard to funding. There are difficulties in respect of that. The NTA is also looking to partner with some other group, and it has a list of five firms that, I understand, it is short-listing in respect of that at a cost of €350 million over the next ten years. I would like some detail regarding what all this is about because the general public feels that it is not yet getting the service it deserves.
BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system, providing better bus services, not only in Dublin but also in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick. It is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State, and is managed by the National Transport Authority, NTA.
In Dublin, the major infrastructure element of BusConnects comprises 12 core bus corridor schemes. These corridors aim to provide more than 200 km of enhanced walking, cycling and bus route infrastructure in the Dublin region. I am pleased that An Bord Pleanála recently granted planning permission for two of the corridors - the Clongriffin and Liffey Valley schemes - and hope that construction can start on those in the near future.
Meanwhile, new bus services in Dublin are already being delivered with the E-spine and inner-city orbitals planned to go live this year.
In Cork, following a public consultation, the new BusConnects network was published in June 2022, and it aims to provide an increase of more than 50% in bus services across the city.
Similarly, BusConnects Galway will provide a major enhancement to the bus system there. Key elements are currently under development, namely the cross-city link project and the Dublin Road scheme. The Salmon Weir pedestrian-cycling bridge was officially opened to the public last May. The bus network design was finalised last December following a public consultation, and it will provide improved services, including in Bearna and Oranmore.
Following public consultation, the NTA published the final redesigned bus network for Limerick last December, which will also result in a better bus service for the city in the years ahead. Workshops on the redesign of the city bus network for Waterford are complete. The new network will be published for public consultation by the end of the second quarter of this year, with the final network to be published in the fourth quarter.
The NTA has responsibility for the scheduling of BusConnects services and will review timetables to help ensure proper integration between various transport modes. Overall, BusConnects will transform bus services in our cities, allowing passengers to travel more conveniently, quickly and sustainably, and I look forward to its full implementation.
I also look forward to hearing more details. I did not quite understand the concern the Deputy outlined, so he might elucidate that.
We all want bus services throughout the State, especially in Dublin and other urban areas. In Dublin, where the network has been rolled out and BusConnects has happened to a certain degree, we still have a lot of difficulties, with ghost buses, buses that are full and timetables saying a bus will arrive in three minutes, whereas 20 minutes later, there is still no sign of it. There is great frustration among the public and that is regrettable because I want this to work, as everybody does.
In regard to the funding issue, which the Minister mentioned, my understanding is the NTA has indicated it wants to partner with another group, which I assume is a consultancy company or something similar, and it estimates it will cost €350 million over ten years. It accepts it does not have the level of expertise in house to do some of this work. All of us Deputies have for years had a sense, which I think the general public have as well, that in the case of several of our public service organisations, a lot of people are working there, yet when there is work to be done, a consultant has to be brought in. People wonder why that always happens and why these huge costs always arise. We need to get some detail on that.
I fully accept what the Deputy said about there being occasions when someone is left at the bus stop, the real-time information not being accurate and the bus not appearing or being full. We can never be fully satisfied with the service. We have to really improve the payments system and the online monitoring system and accelerate the provision of road space in order that we can improve bus times, and that all requires significant change.
We have to be careful, however, not to ignore the reality that what is happening is an incredible transformation in our public transport numbers. The increase last year on the previous year was something like 24%. That is phenomenal and that does not happen ordinarily. That was partly accounted for by coming out of Covid but the vast majority of the increase is due to expanded services and patronage, so the system is working.
Part of making it work is that the NTA has dramatically expanded. I do not have the exact figures to hand but we have provided all the additional staffing resources the NTA has needed, and that will continue. That does not mean we do not use consultants – Jarrett Walker, for example, is involved in Cork - or bring in outside expertise, but we do need to build up resources.
I will finish my point in my concluding reply.
One of the main frustrations is that the system very often does not connect. Part of the issue is that people were used to the old system and they knew which buses would bring them to a certain place at a certain time, and they find that is not working anymore and that there is not the same connection between other modes of transport, whether trains, buses and so on, as there was in the past. There is possibly work to be done in that regard to get information to people in a clearer and more coherent manner than has been happening.
It is about building a service that people can see is not only reliable but also safe, which is another issue. Safety is a serious problem for all modes of transport but especially for our buses. Many bus drivers are under huge pressure and a lot of antisocial issues have been contributing to that. As the service expands and grows and we have more late-night services, there also needs to be an eye to that to ensure there will be a safe and coherent public bus service that offers value for money. I accept that more people are using the service, which is exactly what we need, but, unfortunately, it does not seem to be working at the moment. Maybe they are teething problems, but we need to get them resolved fast.
If we take BusConnects in Dublin as an example, we have been introducing spines that are reorganising the routes and are designed to improve connectivity, and we now have to follow up with the corridors and build the physical infrastructure to improve bus times and make conditions for cycling and walking better. The evidence is that when we put in these new spines, straighten the routes and get the connectivity, that is where patronage is jumping up. There are always teething problems. I know from my area on the southside of Dublin, where the new orbitals have been put in, that it takes a while to get to know where the route is going. We have switched there, as an example, to ten-minute services, whereas previously passengers could have had to wait for an hour. That is a phenomenal increase and improvement in services.
Going back to the NTA and its role, it is building up significant expertise. It has a statutory role in that regard in Dublin. In the likes of Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, rather than take powers from the local authority, which has to be central and key, we need to make the sure the NTA and the local authorities have the delivery capability to get through whatever planning system or approaches they take. That is one of the structural institutional issues we need to get right and those changes will need to be made through the Dáil.
I absolutely agree with the Deputy's fundamental first point. We need to develop inhouse skills and not always rely on consultants, because that means forever paying for someone to come back the next day. When expertise is built in house, it lasts longer.
4. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Transport if his Department has conducted any analysis of the impact of fare reductions on the number of people using public transport, in particular rail travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4301/24]
The transport system is in a terrible situation. Anybody who tries to commute into and out of the major cities is stuck in excruciatingly slow, crawling traffic. Traffic jams are blighting all the major routes in this country and people are living in commuter hell, spending three hours a day getting into and out of work. They are trying to rely on public transport but it is collapsing, with frequently cancelled services forcing them back into their cars.
This Government is absolutely committed to improving public transport throughout the country, as is demonstrated through the significant service and infrastructural investments in recent years as well as the various fare initiatives that have been introduced. Over recent years we have reduced average fares on all public service obligation, PSO, services by 20%, helping people with cost-of-living pressures; introduced and expanded the young adult card, reducing fares by a further 50% for young people just as they are making choices about how they travel independently; and introduced a new 90-minute fare to enable easy interchange between different types of public transport.
These fare initiatives are making a positive difference for citizens and have supported the quick recovery of the sector post Covid. At the height of the Covid restrictions, public transport passenger numbers fell to less than 10% of pre-pandemic levels, whereas I am pleased to say passenger demand is now well ahead of pre-pandemic levels. As of early December 2023, PSO services were averaging at 109% patronage Monday to Friday and at 154% at weekends versus the same day in late February and early March of 2022.
The NTA provides weekly updates to my Department on public transport passenger numbers on all modes and the authority has undertaken analysis regarding the impact of the various fare reductions on public transport passenger numbers. This analysis shows evidence of the immediate and short-term impacts of the 2022 fare reductions on passenger numbers when there was a significant increase in passenger demand.
There is also evidence public transport passenger numbers have recovered faster in the post-pandemic period compared with other countries and it is highly likely the lower fares contributed to that growth. All of this points to the positive impact of fare initiatives on our public transport system and the contribution of the initiatives to its overall recovery.
I welcome wholeheartedly the reduction in the cost of public transport and I encourage the Government to reduce it even further but there are a number of reasons people will choose public transport. One is cost but another is the ability to be confident it will arrive at all. In many parts of the country at the moment - this is critical - public transport is not arriving. In commuter counties such as Meath, for example, buses are frequently cancelled. There might be nine cancellations daily of the NX bus service from Navan and there could be multiple cancellations of the 109 from Cavan and Navan into Dublin, and that means the next bus that comes is usually full, with 50 or 60 people left at bus stops. With such a lack of consistency, people cannot be sure they will get into work on time, and if they cannot get into work on time on a consistent basis, they will be forced back into the car. People nearly need to leave towns such as Navan two hours in advance of work to be sure of getting into work on time in a car, and that is because there are not enough mechanics or bus drivers in the system.
People's minds are exploding because they are standing at bus stops every day to find buses being cancelled and they arriving at work later every day.
It is true we have challenges in getting bus drivers and mechanics across all networks and all bus operators. We are addressing that. Availability of mechanics is very tight. As with many of the systems in our economy, we are at full employment. It is a challenge but we are addressing that. When bus passengers feel frustrated where a bus is cancelled, there is an immediate regulatory tool to impose fines and make sure the public service standards that have been set, are met. The other key element of this, to really make our system work, is the reallocation of road space to improve the speeds of buses so that the driver and passengers all have a much faster journey time. This improves efficiency and service for everyone. That is going to be the key arbiter of whether we are successful in rolling out public transport in the coming years. That requires local political commitment and difficult decisions. Taking road space is contentious and not easy but it is the only way to go. We are starting to do that at scale in all our cities and throughout the country. That is going to be the key measure of success.
I do not want to be overcritical but this Government is fluent in excuses. No matter what we bring to the Government on lack of delivery, its ability to give a flow of excuses is incredible. It has to be realised that this Government has been poor in rolling out public services. In the past year, the Minister brought all the ministers for energy in the European Union to this country to discuss the issue of wind power. This Government has only built seven wind turbines offshore in the past 20 years. We have far more verbiage than we have delivery on many of these issues. I agree we should be giving more space to public transport. However, dozens of people were driving in the bus lanes and on the hard shoulders to get to work today because they were stuck in traffic for hours and could not bear the idea of being late again as a result of a system that is crushed. When Dublin empties out later today, people will be in exactly the same crisis but in reverse. This is a serious crisis and it has to be dealt with.
For the past two years, this Government has delivered a new or enhanced rural bus service every week. The numbers have doubled in the past year so I do not agree with Deputy Tóibín’s analysis in terms of inability to deliver new services.
I also fundamentally disagree if he is saying it is acceptable that a car would be in the bus lane. It is not. That is illegal and subject to a fine and penalty points. Through some of the measures we are looking at, such as increased use of cameras and other mechanisms, we will make sure the enforcement of bus lanes is rigorous. If we do not keep them clear, the whole system will not work. The real challenge now will be to reallocate space and build new bus lanes. That is what BusConnects is fundamentally about. It is a core change that is going to be delivered. As these corridors are built from such places as Clongriffin and Liffey Valley, we will have a system that works for everyone. However, I do not disagree with the Deputy’s analysis, the current car-dependent system whereby everyone is stuck in traffic works for no one. The bus system is going to be the core of the alternative solution which is more sustainable, efficient, social and cost-effective.
5. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Transport what impact the new proposed speed limit reductions will have on the transport network system in Ireland. [4899/24]
Will the Minister outline what impact the proposed speed limit reductions will have on transport networks, including goods and bus networks?
A key objective of the speed limit review is to align speed limits with the safe system approach to managing safety on the road network. The safe system approach is a means of managing and developing the road network so that, by design, it is forgiving of human error and mitigates serious collisions. In response to the upward trend in road deaths in recent years, we sought Government approval to publish the Road Traffic Bill in December, with the Bill subsequently published on 25 January and due to come before the House in the next couple of weeks. It is a concise Bill, focused on addressing key road safety issues. I aim to pass it into law as soon as possible. The Bill will implement the core recommendations of the speed limit review with regard to safer default speed limits. The default limits on national secondary roads will be reduced from 100 km/h to 80 km/h, on local rural roads from 80 km/h to 60 km/h, and on roads in highly urbanised areas from 50 km/h to 30 km/h.
Reducing speed has been fundamentally proven to significantly reduce the risk of death or serious injury in road collisions. The World Health Organization has estimated that a 5% reduction in average speed could result in a 30% reduction in fatal collisions. Furthermore, the evidence shows that 50% of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 60 km/h will be killed, compared with 29% of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 50 km/h and 5% of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 30 km/h.
In addition to the Bill, the Department has commenced work on updating the guidelines for managing speed limits in Ireland. The update will seek to address matters relating to the default speed limits in support of the Bill. Although transition arrangements will be required, significant work is under way in relation to the ongoing process for the local authority reviews to make sure the process will be consistent following publication of the guidance. Also, it is proposed to leave the speed limits on the motorway system at 120 km/h, on national primary roads at 100 km/h, and on regional roads at 80 km/h. The speed limit review leaves those limits as they are. The proposed changes relate to the other speed limits I referenced.
We wanted clarification from the Minister of State on that because what we heard was, fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It was shown that a blanket ban was to apply to the transport networks. The message going out around the country was that there was going to be a blanket ban. That would have required increasing the number of buses and trucks on the roads because buses and trucks would not meet their targets. Truck drivers are subject to the DigiCar system and are only allowed to drive so many hours a day. I agree 100% that speed kills but I am also looking for the facts on accident black spots where people have been killed and seriously injured. Let us look at the facts. People have been knocked down on the streets by vehicles travelling at only 5 km/h or 6 km/h. That is not speed. We want to make sure we get this right first time and do not add extra vehicles to the roads where there have been no accidents or speeding recorded.
Many of the HGVs and much of the logistics network use the motorway system and national primary roads, on which, as I said, the limits will remain as they are. They have a higher engineering standard compared with some of the other roads. It is important to have a lower baseline in highly urbanised areas, villages and towns where there are schools and vulnerable road users are at risk. We have seen 43 pedestrians killed last year and speed, unfortunately, was a factor in many of those instances. We also have to invest in junctions and other accident black spots the Deputy mentioned. TII has a work programme on that.
The legislation, which we hope the Deputy will support, will be enacted in the next number of weeks. Guidance will then be issued to local authorities to conduct speed limit reviews and they will then assess what the appropriate speed limit is on each road in the context of the guidance issued. That is how the process will evolve.
In towns and villages that do not have policing services, many complaints are made about speeding. Even where speed indicators are installed, they do not work. What is the view of the Minister of State on having speed ramps in towns and villages that do not have a policing presence? In many towns and villages where these have been introduced, they are working. They are slowing the traffic down in the streets. They are having an impact. They do not need to be monitored because people slow down when they hit a speed ramp. They should be introduced in every town and village where there is no police presence.
They will save lives and slow traffic and it does not cost the State to police them. They police themselves.
There is guidance given to engineers on traffic-calming measures. We are all constituency TDs. I support many traffic-calming interventions in urbanised areas, particularly around schools and in villages and towns. In addition, where there is an inappropriate speed limit, it sets the context for motorists travelling through a village or town. That is why we have to set a lower default speed limit to slow traffic and protect vulnerable road users.
There is no policing.
On the wider point I mentioned to others earlier, there is a need to improve enforcement and policing across the country. That is a key priority in our engagement with An Garda Síochána.
Do you agree with me on speed ramps?
I support traffic-calming measures in towns and villages. It is a local authority function to implement traffic-calming measures in addition to changing the default speed limit in urbanised environments.
