Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What the Deputy is talking about is not relevant to this debate. What I have to do is follow Government policy, which is that road safety remains a top priority, of course it does. What I said earlier is that I will not interfere with every individual road or individual black spot. Were I to do that, I would be running around the country doing it in my own constituency and other constituencies, and not doing something where I have actually allocated expertise in other places. I have, of course, asked TII to do what it is doing. The Deputy knows perfectly well we have allocated €20 million or €21 million in consecutive years specifically to save lives, and TII is doing that, and is doing a very efficient job.

I have to and will ask people far more expert than am I, and far more independent than the Deputy or I am, to make the decisions as to where this money will be allocated and where safety has a priority. That is what they are doing. I accept the Deputy's bona fides in coming to the House and looking after his own particular region and constituency. There is no doubt about his bona fides and I respect him for that. However, I cannot allow Members to come in here, say that a road in their area is less safe than another and that TII is doing a bad job. What I am going to do is continue to allocate money to the experts on road safety and to allocate what I think is a sufficient amount.

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