Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a theacht anseo inniu. Is gá obair a dhéanamh ar na spotaí is measa de bhóithre náisiúnta na tíre. Rinne Gamma Location Intelligence anailís ar na spotaí seo bunaithe ar eolas a chuir Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, ar fáil agus aisteach go leor, bhí ocht gcinn de na spotaí sin ar bhóthar amháin i gConamara. Tá sé in am breathnú ar an liosta, tosú ag a bharr agus rud éigin a dhéanamh faoin 20 bóthar is measa sa tír. Táim ag súil go mbeidh dea-scéal ag an Aire dom maidir leis seo, go gcuirfidh an Roinn ciste ar fáil, agus go mbeidh ceangail ar TII an t-airgead sin a chaitheamh ar na spotaí agus na bóithre seo.

On 23 September, Gamma Location Intelligence published an analysis of TII data which identified the worst accident black spots in the country. It gives us an insight into which roads in our national network are deficient. The analysis only applies to national primary and secondary routes. It identified that the worst roads are clustered in counties Galway, Wexford and Longford. Eight of the 20 worst stretches of road are on the N59 in County Galway, with another just across the border in County Mayo.

The road from Aasleagh Falls to Recess had nine of the worst accident black spots on national roads in the country. The spread of the 20 worst locations was: eight in Galway; four in Clare; two in Cork; one in Longford; one in Wexford; one in Mayo; one in Waterford; one in Leitrim; and one in Tipperary.

I believe in objective decision-making based on evidence and good data. The data are clear here. It is an impeccable source of data, which is used by insurance companies and anybody who is interested in this issue and wants good data. Will the Minister provide dedicated funding to TII next year and instruct it, as a matter of high-level policy, that it should tackle these accident black spots, starting with the 20 worst first and then working systematically through a long list of roads? I believe some of them could be resolved with quite modest amounts of money. Others will require more. It is interesting to look at the national map and see that there is a big cluster of black spots on the national secondary routes. They are very deficient but not very expensive to upgrade. Then there is a little cluster around the rest of the country.

Will the Minister take responsibility and save lives? He is always talking about saving lives on the roads. Now that we know where the worst accident black spots are, will he act and do something about it?

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