Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will deal, first, with the cycling issue raised by Deputies Mick Barry, Robert Troy and Catherine Murphy. The statutory instrument is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and will be brought back, I hope, very shortly, although one can never be certain, but I do not think there are too many complications with it. It will be, as announced, a distance of 1.5 m for those travelling in excess of 50 km/h and 1 m for those travelling below that speed. It will not be any more complicated than that. The reason for it is that cyclists' lives are at stake and they are as important as the lives of others. We want to send them a clear signal that we want to save their lives.

We want to send them a clear signal that we want to save their lives. The number of deaths went up from ten to 15 last year. That is a really serious increase which we should feel obliged to address, and that is what we are doing. In answer to Deputy Troy's question on why this is being done by statutory instrument, that this is the normal way overtaking legislation is implemented. It is not done by primary legislation.