John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms O'Donnell for her presentation in which she outlined a serious grasp of the challenges faced, the targets set and the achievements that have taken place since the RSA was set up. Last year the committee visited the headquarters of the RSA in Ballina. Seeing the analysis of all the tragedies and accidents that had occurred and how the RSA based its campaigns on statistics as they emerged was a very worthwhile exercise. Ms O'Donnell quoted the very stark figure of 23,592, which is greater than the the population of Tralee, for those who had been killed since 1959, in addition to 76,586 who had suffered serious injuries, which is greater than the population of Galway city. Obviously, there was a reduction in the figures until 2013 when there was a rise. There seems to be potential for a small rise, but I hope this will not happen because the numbers are still under last year's figures. What is the reason for this? What would improve the position? Could it be the shock therapy of all the advertisements carried on television? Is there a different approach the RSA could take to bring the figures below those for 2013?