Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Road safety is an issue that is seemingly spiralling out of control. This year is currently on course to prove the most lethal for traffic fatalities in 15 years, with all the good work that has been done in the years gone by completely erased. So far this year, 63 people have died on the roads, with the death toll climbing by an alarming 31% compared with the same period in 2023. In February, we debated the Road Traffic Bill. My colleague Deputy Duncan Smith highlighted that we had 21 deaths at the time of those statements. It is a staggering rise to get from 21 fatalities in February to 63 in April. I welcome that the Taoiseach has declared a commitment to addressing this trend but how have things got out of control so quickly under this Government?

There has been consistent mismanaging of road safety and indeed broader issues on our roads and for drivers, including the outrageous backlog of driver tests that the Government has failed to tackle. More than 86,000 people are waiting to book or take a driving test, including 31,000 in Dublin. The Minister of State knows all too well, as I do, that this encourages people to drive illegally on learner permits and young drivers to pick up general bad habits. Only last October, we saw figures that indicated that up to 30,000 people on their third or subsequent provisional licence have never sat a driving test. In some cases, learners have been driving for 30 years without ever holding a full licence. With such huge waiting lists, it is almost certain that those figures have risen and will continue to rise which puts drivers, and especially young drivers, at risk.

Almost half of Ireland's road deaths this year have involved people under 30 years of age who now account for 41% of all traffic fatalities. This is clear data and we should be seeing impactful solutions in both resourcing and personnel from the Government. For instance, the latest figures state there are 627 members of the Garda road policing unit, which is down from 688 last year and 692 in 2022. In what world is this acceptable? Why is the Government not providing the resources not just to retain the number of members in Garda road policing units, but also to build on them? There is worrying consistency in the manner in which the Government responds to these types of big issues. Too frequently, the response is too little too late. Over the past few weeks, we have been hearing of a renewed energy the Government is about to bring to the table, but when we get to see the actual plan to tackle road safety issues, we see again conservative changes that will not make a meaningful impact.

Last week, we had an announcement that all uniformed gardaí will conduct 30 minutes of road safety policing per shift in future. Is this seriously the best we can do right now? We talk ad nauseam in this Chamber about the need for more gardaí on our roads and in our communities. Time and again, members of the Government have told those of us in opposition that they are doing all they can to increase the number of gardaí. Furthermore, they tell us how much of an improvement they have already made. The facts tell a different story. Garda numbers actually declined last year, with retirements and resignations outpacing the number of new members graduating from the Garda College. The net fall in the overall strength of the force was 125, down from 14,133 members at the start of 2023 to 13,998 by the year end. We are now expecting gardaí to spread themselves thinner, which is simply not sustainable.

We need to see a real commitment to increasing the strength of our police force, not just by running a so-called aggressive recruitment campaign, which evidently was aggressive but not successful, but by making joining the Garda a more attractive prospect for people. That can and needs to be done in a multitude of ways. To put it in very simple terms, we have to look at housing. If I was to start as a garda tomorrow and I was to work for 19 years, my salary would come in slightly under €60,000. If I work in Dublin where the highest concentration of gardaí in the country is needed, there is not a hope in the world that I, without a partner who also works, could afford to own a home in the city I am expected to protect. It is simply ridiculous.

An Irish Independent report over the weekend indicated that roads policing officers will not be on duty between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. most days of the week. Of course, it is important to prioritise Friday and Saturday but we have to be honest in our assessment of this approach. It does not do enough to plaster over a gaping wound. Ultimately, we must acknowledge that the approach the Minister of State and the Taoiseach are taking with this policy is dictated by a lack of resources rather than what would work best. The Government must answer for that lack of resources.

Addressing the issue of road safety will take brave choices. I implore the Minister of State and the Government to work with the Opposition to get meaningful and important legislation passed.

I am pleased to hear the Taoiseach's new commitment to work with the Opposition during the remaining lifetime of this Government to get important work done. All of us acknowledge that addressing road safety and the general issues on our roads will take a multifaceted approach and cross-party collaboration on this will be important. To that end, I note that Deputy Duncan Smith has written to the Taoiseach asking him to prioritise the Protection of Accident Victims from Non-Consensual Recording of Images Bill 2022, which the Deputy introduced two years ago. The Bill would criminalise the disgraceful practice of the recording of accident victims. We ask the Minister of State to consider accelerating the passage of this legislation. We need to see actions taken to rapidly decrease the number of road deaths we are seeing. It is also vitally important that as this work is ongoing, no family has to fear opening up their social media account worried that they might see a family member in such a distressing situation. We need to see a clampdown on this behaviour and we hope the Government can get the Bill moving through the House with the renewed energy it purports to have.

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