Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Dillon and appreciate his question. It is an important one. There was a meeting of the ministerial road safety committee this morning with me and the Minister of State, Deputy Browne. It is of serious concern the trend we have seen last year and again this year. In particular, in Deputy Dillon's county of Mayo and the adjoining county of Galway, there has been quite a concerning increase in road deaths.

There are a range of actions. This morning, we had a presentation from Assistant Commissioner Hilman on technology on targeted enforcement; from Mr. Sam Waide, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, on driver behaviour, with a focus on penalties; from Professor Cusack from the medical bureau; and a range of other inputs. There will be a number of road safety campaigns. The Deputy would have seen one last week for St. Patrick's weekend conducted by the Road Safety Authority. They are developed very much with an evidence base and based on broader research by the team in the Road Safety Authority. The campaigns have an important role around road safety but so do the other actions.

We have a number of actions, as I have said, to better target enforcement. There is a focus on whether there has been a change in driver behaviour post Covid and an assessment of that. This spring, we are developing the evidence around it. Looking at driver distraction, mobile phones is one element but there are other broader driver distraction concerns that people will be aware of. We are looking at streamlining the system of penalties as well. We are looking at a range of areas this year and priorities within the Department. We want to try to reverse the trend of this year and last year.