Mr. Pat Maher:

It affected the M18 as well. It was more or less split evenly between the two routes. There is a regional factor. All motorway operators have up-to-date information. We get the information from the motorway operators on collisions. We can identify collision clusters and we analyse them.

A specific regional factor is associated with the mid-west and the western parts of the M7. Hail showers come in off the west coast. They come across the M18, going from north to south. They come in to points on the M7. The precipitation might fall as rain off the coast but it falls as hail once it comes in. There is hilly terrain, including the Silvermines and Arra Mountains and Slieve Barna. I have no wish to give Deputy Kelly a geography lesson on his own area, but that is a factor.