Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 24 together.

With the State having incurred the investment required to deliver BusConnects, it is vital to ensure sufficient enforcement is in place to protect the benefits of that investment from widespread breaches of the restrictions applying to bus lanes, cycle tracks and junctions. To effectively ensure this outcome, camera-based enforcement will be required to augment the on-street activities of An Garda Síochána.

In addition to supporting BusConnects in its operational phase, camera-based enforcement also has a wider role to play in enhancing road safety, particularly at junction locations. This type of arrangement is in use internationally, where camera detection of certain breaches of regulation is linked to the issuing of fixed penalty notices. Feedback and evidence indicate that such provision is very effective in enhancing compliance with the relevant traffic legislation.

Action 67 in the Road Safety Strategy Phase 1 Action Plan 2021–2024 sets out the need to "further develop camera-based enforcement by the Gardaí, including at junctions and for management of bus/cycle lanes, building on existing and recent legislation through establishing suitable cross-agency administrative arrangements; and, where any legislative issues are identified, to consider and develop agreed proposals to remedy them". The Department of Transport has arranged for the National Transport Authority, NTA, to undertake the first phase of this action, namely, to establish and chair a working group to make recommendations on how it should be progressed. It is intended that this group will report back on progress made to the road safety transformation partnership board comprising the relevant agency CEOs and senior officials from Departments involved in delivering the road safety strategy, which I chair. The subsequent steps for implementation, including addressing any legislative issues that may be identified, will be determined by the Department when this phase is completed.

Having established the working group, which is inclusive of representatives of An Garda, local authorities, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Department of Transport, the NTA has in tandem commissioned research on international practice in this area to inform the working group's considerations. The NTA anticipates that the working group's report will be finalised and provided to the Department in the third quarter of this year.

See this speech in context