Ms Anne Marie McMahon:

On the numbers, some 50 members have extended their service. They have applied to stay on. A number of other applications are being considered currently. While we have lost quite a number of members, a number of members have stayed on. That is a positive thing and we welcome it.

Deputy Daly is absolutely right about road fatalities. This year has been horrendous on the roads. Behind each of those fatalities are families, friends and communities. We are very mindful of that. The Deputy referenced the numbers in the road policing units. The ironic thing is that the biggest regional reduction has been in the Dublin metropolitan region roads policing unit at the regional and divisional level.

However, that is not the area where we have seen the greatest spike in fatalities so it is a bit of an anomaly in that regard. As we try to address and arrest that trend, there is a huge amount of education to do between ourselves and the RSA. We are in constant contact the RSA and collaborate very well with it.

An area where probably more leverage could be gained is the use of technology - for example, average speed areas, speed zones – to change that behaviour. If we look to the Continent, we see how technology is used very effectively to win the hearts and minds of people. When they get behind the wheel, they know exactly what they are facing, whether they break a red light or breach the speed limit. There are opportunities into the future to leverage technology more.

For our own part and enforcement, while the roads policing units are one part of our enforcement strand, the men and women in the regular units – the people who work 24-7 – contribute hugely to road traffic legislation enforcement. In fact, they do more of it than the numbers confined to road traffic units. To confine the commentary to the roads policing unit is not dealing with the full picture or giving credit to the full roads policing enforcement.