Ms Moyagh Murdock:

It is pedestrians and motorcyclists. The Deputy may have heard yesterday's weekly message stating that two young people under the age of 16 were killed, a total of eight up to now. This is two more than for the whole of last year. That is a very worrying trend. We have also had an increase in the number of deaths in older road users, primarily motorcyclists. A number of campaigns and promotion programmes are in place. Of the ten motorcyclists deaths so far this year, five have been domestic Irish drivers and five have been tourists on holiday in Ireland. They have been very freakish accidents that one could not necessarily mitigate against. However, through our promotional campaigns we are working in tandem with the Garda Síochána to increase visibility and enforcement of the legislative provisions relating to the use of mobile telephones. We have a number of strong campaigns in train to try to reverse that trend. In terms of drivers themselves, there has been a reduction in the number of deaths. The message is to take personal responsibility. Speed is the single biggest factor in road fatalities and we have to get that message across.