Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

I thank everyone for being here and offer Ms Gray and everyone in the Gallery from PARC my deepest condolences. It is an absolute tragedy and life-changing, not just for the immediate family but also for friends of the deceased. I thank them for giving up their time to be here.

I will focus on one statistic around rural roads. Approximately 70% of fatalities occur on rural roads. Do we have a plan in place? I am sick to my teeth of asking local councils to cut hedges and fill potholes. Rural roads will always be more dangerous because when people go around a bend - they do not have to be speeding - if a tractor or combine harvester is coming in the other direction, they have no choice but to slam on the brakes, go into the ditch or hit the vehicle that is coming towards them. It is a given that there will be a higher rate of fatalities because of the type of machinery on rural roads and the size of the roads. They are smaller. Is there an overall plan to try to reduce the risk on rural roads? Obviously, it is not possible to have stationary cameras on rural roads. There are far too many of them. There are rural roads around every corner in rural Ireland. It would be impossible. I appreciate that we have a certain number of gardaí policing our roads. There is no possibility of getting them on rural roads. It is great to see them on the main roads, but they cannot be on rural roads because there are too many. Is there a strategy for trying to reduce the risk on rural roads? Anyone can answer.