Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important matter. In 2000 the Tánaiste and then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment appointed a review group to consider public safety. The group's main recommendation was that an office of public safety regulation be established to monitor the lack, appropriateness and-or adequacy of regulations, Acts and guidelines designed to protect the public.

It is necessary to consider public safety because the Government appears to be remiss in this area. To judge by the number of people who have approached me on this subject, there is clearly a need for an office of public safety regulation. The regulations either do not exist or, where they do, are not enforced. The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Killeen, will no doubt tell me there will be duplication of services. The Tánaiste, however, appointed this group but the Government has not acted on its key recommendation. In this it is remiss.

There are many cases involving road safety which demonstrate the need for this office. A young woman named Aisling Gallagher was killed last Christmas because the surface of the road on which she was travelling had not been completed. Work had been undertaken but not finished. There was no warning of a temporary road surface with a mandatory speed limit of 50 km/h. This woman, having passed all relevant tests, was driving within the law in a car in perfect working order, yet she was killed because the road was unfit for travelling. The speed limit on the road at the time was 100 km/h.

That woman should not have died but no one will take responsibility for that accident. The county council carried out the work on the road and the National Roads Authority is responsible for national secondary roads but said it would not take responsibility for this incident. The Health and Safety Authority is responsible for places of work but hairs are being split and this authority also refused to deal with the issue. Although the HSA said it did not investigate the accident, I believe it did but would not deal with it.

In a second case Sinéad McDaid in Donegal was driving on a road where there was a sign in long grass but no adequate warning of the loose chippings on which she skidded. She too was killed and nobody will take responsibility for this case. There are many such cases, including the bus crash on the Kentstown Road. This road was covered with dense base macadam which is not fit for driving with an open speed limit as in this instance. I believe this road safety factor, which was the cause of the crash, has been swept under the carpet. All criminal charges will be dealt with before this is even touched, which is the recommendation. This does not sound right. The Minister of State cannot say there is no need for this because if he met the families of the deceased they would explain the need for accountability. No one is accountable, meaning there is a need for an office of public safety regulation. If the local authorities, the Health and Safety Authority, splitting hairs as to what constitutes a place of work, and the National Roads Authority will not take responsibility, who will? There must be a system of proper reporting of and investigation into road traffic accidents. The protocol exists between the Garda and the Health and Safety Authority. I hope the Minister of State will address these issues because people are dying as a result of the lack of accountability for public safety. The establishment of an office of public safety is the only way to ensure public safety regulations are implemented.

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