Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach. The RSA officials are very welcome. I ask that they keep their responses short because I have a number of questions to get in and we all have limited time.

I thank them for their briefing note which is very useful. Page 10 provides information on the cost. I accept the point made about how the number one issue is the tragic loss of life, but the officials have given us some figures in the briefing note. In cold monetary terms the cost of a fatal collision is estimated at €3.4 million. That was a 2022 figure. A serious injury collision was estimated at €385,000 and the financial cost of road traffic collisions in Ireland was estimated at €1.39 billion for that year. Apart from the life-changing injuries and the tragedy for the families, in cold monetary terms it makes the case for paying close attention to this.

Some of the other information the officials have given relates to the days of the week we are most likely to see fatal accidents happening, which is between Friday and Sunday. The prevalence in rural areas is greater than it is in urban areas, at seven out of ten. There is a lot of very useful information in the briefing. It is against that backdrop that I put my questions.

There was a 72% increase in the road safety programme expenditure. Despite this increase, road fatalities have gone up. Does Mr. Waide think that funding is being targeted appropriately? What metrics does the RSA use for its advertising campaigns? Does it use advertising metrics such as the reach of the advertising and the number of people who have viewed it or does are they based on improvements in the sense of a reduction in fatal and very serious accidents?