Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to join with the Deputy in expressing my horror and devastation at the fact that so many people lost their lives on the roads this weekend. We have to turn the tide on the increase in road traffic accidents and collisions we have seen this year.

We have made so much progress for so long that it is terrible to see it going back in the wrong direction. The Deputy is right to say it is principally about driver behaviour but there are other factors at play as well. I am, strangely, a little encouraged to hear that more cases are coming through the courts and there are more prosecutions. I would have thought that with enforcement falling, fewer cases would be going to court. However, I agree that enforcement has fallen off and that needs to be improved. The number of gardaí dedicated to the road traffic corps is down on 2022 but is up on 2017. We have more gardaí dedicated to road safety than we had in 2017. We have extended the use of speed camera technology. I will be meeting the Garda Commissioner soon and this is one of the issues about which we will be talking.

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