Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for permitting me to speak on this hugely important Bill. I strongly support Deputies McDonald and Ellis in bringing forward this legislation and salute them for so doing. For somewhat similar reasons, approximately 17 or 18 years ago when I was chair of the general purpose committee of Dublin City Council, I tried to move forward the concept of home zones, which I had heard about in Holland, where residential estates would have a much lower speed limit than the speed limit even on local roads – perhaps of 25 km/h. I also tried to amend the 2010 Act when it was going through to try to get an additional lower speed limit.

This is a hugely important development and I welcome the fact the Minister is not opposing the Bill. I understand it will amend the Road Traffic Act 2004 by inserting a new subsection calling for the new residential speed limit to be set at 20 km/h for mechanically propelled vehicles. It also calls for the deletion of section 9(2) of the 2004 Act so, effectively, it is adding a seventh speed limit of 20 km/h in residential areas or in housing estates.

I was honoured earlier today to meet Ms Roseann Brennan and to hear from her family and friends of her strong campaign to create some memorial following the horrendous tragedy which has befallen her family with the death of six year old Jake in Lintown Grove in Kilkenny last year by asking this House to finally take decisive action in this matter and bring in this new speed limit. As our Sinn Féin colleagues have said, it is poignant to remember the shock, grief and pain that Roseann, her partner and family have suffered, including the impact on the child's brother in the period of time since the tragedy.

Unfortunately, Jake has not been the only young child to lose his life on roads. Residential areas and housing estates should be safe places where children can play, cycle, chase each other, play hurling, play football or whatever, as lively active children.

They are taught about road safety in schools and we, as drivers as well as pedestrians, have an important duty to protect them. Like other Deputies, yesterday I received the RSA 2014 report and updates. I am appalled to see that there has been a 24% increase in the number of casualties involving vulnerable road users. Among the 197 lives lost last year are 42 pedestrians, 13 cyclists and 14 children under the age of 15. Three times as many children under 15 died in 2014 as in 2013. This is happening on the Minister's watch. He is the person on the bridge right now and he has the opportunity to do something decisive to address this.

During parliamentary questions relating to transport I asked the Minister to look at Vision Zero, the Swedish road safety plan, which has been operating for nearly two and a half decades and which has, through some of its initiatives, especially regarding speed limits in housing estates, decisively reduced the number of casualties, particularly among children. Vision Zero works on the principle that cars should not interact with pedestrians when they are moving at more than 18 mph. It is not feasible, as is the case in a residential estate, for a car to be doing more than 18 mph, it is a little more in kilometres. That has been their conclusion after an intensive campaign. The Dutch have also had their "home zone" proposal.

We need to see the Minister utilise the legislation in a proactive way, as Deputy Mary Lou McDonald has said, process it quickly through this House, progress it and get the city and county councils around the country to implement it in an urgent, systematic way, so that when we leave a local main road we know we are going into a housing estate, we are in with households and with children and we behave differently. That is now the Minister's responsibility. I commend our Sinn Féin colleagues and Roseann Brennan for her incredible, indefatigable campaign to make this the law.

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