Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I strongly support this amendment and congratulate Deputy Shortall for bringing it forward. I tabled a similar amendment but it was ruled out of order because of a potential charge on the Exchequer. The amendment allowed for an annual audit of fatal and serious road accidents to establish their causes. Current statistics are the tip of the iceberg on the number of accidents caused by road conditions. I also called for a special road traffic accident unit to be set up which would co-ordinate a full investigation of all serious and fatal accidents and make recommendations to ensure the prevention of such accidents in future.

Since the start of the year, 203 people have been killed in road accidents and we must learn the lessons. The numbers are not going down and we must find out the causes of these accidents. If we do not know the causes, we cannot prevent further accidents. A certain percentage are due to road conditions and we can do something about this. Aisling Gallagher's case makes it clear there are people who are not doing their jobs, such as local authorities involved in road works, and who are not following basic recommendations laid down by law by the NRA. As a result, people are being killed.

Aisling Gallagher's case was tragic. She was a young girl about to go to America with her whole life in front of her but she was killed around Christmas last year. She was doing nothing wrong, her car was in perfect working order, she had tax, insurance and her licence and she was driving at the proper speed. There were no drugs or alcohol in her blood but she died because someone did not do his job. The surface was temporary and markings were put down on it.

The HSA said it would not investigate because the lines were put on a temporary surface improperly. That was the excuse. Thanks to the persistence of Mr. Gallagher and myself, the case is now being investigated by the Health and Safety Authority. I was shocked to the core by the haphazard nature of the system of investigating serious and fatal accidents. For instance, I met the NRA, together with Mr. Tommy Gallagher, on 10 March 2005. The authority's representatives said it was not the NRA's responsibility to ensure that its directives, specifications, standards or guidelines were being implemented at any one site. They were not obliged to visit work sites or inspect work. They were not responsible or accountable for the competence or otherwise of the staff employed by any local authority on projects that had been funded by the NRA. We were informed that when the NRA funds a project, the local authority is not in any way answerable to the NRA regarding safety, work methods, work programmes, engaging in good work practices, risk assessments, contingency plans, health and safety regulations or correctly following the NRA directives. We were told in no uncertain terms that the only people any local authority was answerable to were the elected representatives.

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