Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This House will be well aware of the tragedies we have seen on the roads of County Tipperary during the last couple of months, with seven people dying over the space of a few days in August. We have had accidents since. The two accidents in August got national headlines, but I send my condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones. It has been a terrible time in Tipperary and nationally and this trend is deeply worrying. Despite this, the number of gardaí is down.

In Tipperary, as of July, it was 382 as opposed to 411 in December 2019. We cannot expect the gardaí to be everywhere but we should expect adequate investment given the 22% increase in seat belt offences, intoxicated driving rising to 183 with 45 drug driving offences at the same time as checkpoints fell by 27%. This goes back to the issue of Garda numbers.

On the road network, I do not understand how the Minister signed off on a cut of €150 million in the network and safety budget given all we have seen this year. While we hear of revision of speed limits, we also hear of more speed ramps and penalty points. These must be appropriate and must address speeding through villages and estates which is rampant. However, they cannot replace the need to address stretches of local, urban and rural roads clearly in need of safety measures. Who will enforce these new measures when we see a lack of gardaí in most areas?

I urge the Minister to engage with the councils on the issues we draw to their attention and help them address these. We have had too much tragedy in Tipperary to cut the budget.

On the N24, TII told the Minister that more deaths and serious injury could result from delaying the Cahir to Limerick Junction bypass but the Minister avoided addressing the issue of safety on the N24 which I raised in recent parliamentary questions to him. Councils had to beg for each funding allocation so either end of the project could progress a stage. This must stop. The 2021 report on the Limerick Junction to Cahir route noted that the N24’s poor alignment through four villages and Tipperary town contributes to unstable traffic flow which yields restricted capacity which is a danger in itself. Both urban and rural sections of the N24 consistently have collision rates above the national average including the Waterford to Cahir route where the number of access roads and junctions adds to the danger. One way to avoid the continuance of fatalities and serious injuries on this road is to progress these projects and prioritise bypass works on the route such as for Tipperary town and to stop withholding the funds needed to progress these projects. Then there is the Thurles bypass which was excluded from the national development plan. The council has been called on to raise this with the Minister. I also note the slow progress on the Thurles inner-relief project and how traffic volumes add to injuries. Then there is the Roscrea bypass at Tullaskeagh which has been prone to some bad accidents in the past as well.

Finally, I want to mention speed ramps. These clearly work. We have eight local authority areas in County Tipperary and the engineers in each seem to have different ideas of how speed ramps work. I do not think anyone doubts that speed ramps in built-up areas should be a given especially in council estates. They slow traffic down and it helps safety. Communities in areas prone to speeding want more of them. Remember that 28 pedestrians have died this year. High-viz vests and cycling campaigns have already been raised but we also need a campaign to educate the public. When you travel Europe you see that at a pedestrian crossing drivers in Europe slow down. We have a population in this country that as soon as they come near a crossing or red light the first thing a driver does is put the boot down and see if they can beat that red light. We need to educate the public that these small things can make a big difference in safety. We need the Minister to reverse the cuts in road networks and safety, give certainty to road upgrades and remedial works on black spots and engage with councils on the issues on our roads, in villages and on the N24. I am asking the Minister to respond to councils on this.

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