Dáil debates

Thursday, 12 October 2023

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:30 pm

So am I, Deputy. I first came into government in 1997. There were 472 road deaths in Ireland that year. We saw a reduction to 137 in 2021. That was massive progress. There was a lot of opposition to the many measures that it took to bring road deaths down to 137. There was a lot of opposition in the House to then Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, and others who earned the wrath of many Deputies who said he could not do this or that. He did it, however, with the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and the late Gay Byrne. It was not palatable in the Chamber but the figures spoke for themselves. As soon as there was any talk in the past two to three months about moderation of speed limits, it happened again straight out. I challenge the Deputy, if one or two unpalatable measures came out in respect of how we could get road deaths down again, that he might have a different tune and would attack the Minister for daring to do this to rural Ireland. I am as committed as the Deputy is to road safety, but it took a lot of difficult political choices to get to the better position we are in. We have now gone backwards-----

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