Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 43:

In page 12, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:

"8.—(1) Where road works are being carried out by any person including a local authority, the person shall erect and maintain such signs as comply with requirements prescribed by the Minister for Transport, and such further or other road work signs if any as are required to obviate any danger to the public.

(2) A person (including a director, member, officer or employee of a body corporate whose default contributes to the non-compliance) who fails to comply with subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and on summary conviction shall be liable to imprisonment for 12 months or to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or both.".

Again, I feel strongly about this. Since I met the father of the late Aisling Gallagher, I have been exercised by this issue. He spent a lot of time explaining the circumstances in the untimely death of his young daughter and brought home to me how lax the current regime is in regulating road works.

It was only when I tried to investigate some of the issues he raised that I realised we have a system where the National Roads Authority sets down regulations covering the management of road works carried out by a contractor. If there is a temporary surface on the road, the speed limit must be reduced in a corresponding fashion and clearly marked with safety alerts. That is how it should be. However, I was amazed to discover that the same requirement does not exist when local authorities are involved in road works.

As a result of that absence of regulation, a situation arose where Aisling Gallagher's father alleges she was driving along a familiar road on what appeared to be a brand new surface but which was not flagged as temporary and which had markings on it. When she had to brake, she had no grip because the surface was only temporary and, sadly, she went off the road. There have been allegations that similar conditions have pertained to other fatal accidents and it was through meeting him and hearing his story that I discovered there is no proper regulatory regime covering local authorities.

This is an appropriate place to close that gap because this Bill is primarily about road safety. We should introduce a new system whereby local authorities would be legally obliged to comply with the guidelines set down just as any other contractor is and failure to comply would attract penalties including a fine of up to €5,000 or 12 months imprisonment.

See this speech in context