Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Road deaths are rising because the Government is failing to employ gardaí. That is a stark fact and it must be addressed. The reply to an Aontú parliamentary question indicated there were 1,046 road traffic gardaí in 2009, compared with just over 600 today. That is a collapse of 40%. Drink driving is no longer a source of stigma in many parts of the country because people know they will not be stopped. Without enforcement, all the laws in the world will not make a difference. The 30-minute proposal is an embarrassment. It is robbing Peter to pay Paul. A garda might have to travel two hours to and from a road checkpoint to do half an hour's work. Gardaí are already finding it really difficult to find time just to answer the telephone.

Enforcement is collapsing. The number of fixed-traffic notices has fallen by 27% since 2014. A stunning statistic is that out of the 32,700 people who were disqualified from driving from 2021 to 2023, more than a third did not even have a licence. Of the 21,000 who did have a licence, only 5,000 surrendered that licence according to the law. I know of a person who has two active disqualifications and is now in court to answer for a third active disqualification. This is the craziness that is happening. The Government has promised to make the technology available to put real-time information in the hands of gardaí. That is not happening.

Dave Boyne in Trim, Councillor Jim Codd in Wexford and Councillor Sarah O'Reilly in Cavan have done massive work to try to fix these issues in their counties. Jim Codd is from a very low-lying area of Wexford. The council there is saying it needs €194 million to fix the road. If we do not fix the roads, there will be accidents. Will the Minister of State meet with Dave Boyne and Councillors Codd and O'Reilly to see whether the roads in their areas can be fixed?

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