Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like much of the public infrastructure in this rich country, our roads, cycleways and footpaths are suffering from chronic underinvestment and, tragically, to an extent, the cost is being measured in the lives of road users. There has been a 30% increase in fatal accidents on our roads to date this year while, at the same time, investment in road infrastructure and road safety measures is falling in real terms. Despite the millions invested in the welcome new active travel projects, local authorities receive no dedicated funding stream for maintaining cycleways, which is extraordinary. Many cycleways amount to just paint on a road and where separators are put in place, they quickly become broken and displaced. Vital repairs are often postponed or delayed due to anticipated future projects. There is also no dedicated funding for maintaining and repairing footpaths, which should be introduced alongside an audit of the state of footpaths in each local authority and an ability to deploy unspent active travel funds for maintenance works.

The bad winter weather and, of course, the impact of climate change have seen many road surfaces damaged but there has been no real increase in the overall level of funding under the regional and local roads programme. The longer it takes to do repairs, the more it will cost, and the cost of roadworks has increased substantially while funding remains flat. Clearly, substantially more funding is needed due to construction inflation and associated higher costs. The Revised Estimates for the Department of Transport in 2024 show that active travel funding is down by 12% overall. The funding for road networks and road safety overall is down by 11%, principally due to a lower spend on national roads, but the investment in regional and local roads is down by €18 million. In fact, the extra spend this year is coming from capital carryover. In every aspect of roads infrastructure, investment is either down on last year or the money allocated is covering less ground. Pavement renewals will fall from 250 km in 2023 to 210 km in 2024. The length of regional and local road maintained will fall from 3,100 km in 2023 to 2,640 km in 2024. The length of regional and local road improved will fall from 2,550 km in 2023 to 2,160 km in 2024. There are over 96,000 km of regional and local roads in Ireland but there is no clear funding framework or predictable multi-annual funding envelope available.

We want to see an immediate increase in the allocation of funds for the repair of damaged road surfaces. I and my Labour colleagues are also calling for local authorities to be allocated active travel-related funds to repair and maintain existing paths and cycleways, and for them to be allowed to deploy unspent funding for maintenance works. We also want to see ring-fenced funding to local authorities for the direct hiring of staff in road, cycleway and path maintenance and repair. We have seen a significant number of local authority office staff, if I can describe them as such, hired in recent years but there has not been a related increase in the hiring of outdoor staff, which is a real concern to the Labour Party and to the trade unions that represent them. We simply cannot take the risk of underinvestment in public roads. The cost of addressing this ongoing problem is high but the cost of ignoring it is higher still, and too many families around the country are paying that awful price.

With regard to road safety and our efforts to slow down traffic and disincentivise and discourage speeding, I draw to the Minister of State's attention the fact that GoSafe workers have been in dispute with their employer for some time. They are represented by SIPTU. The Labour Court has made recommendations over the last few years in regard to the improvement of employment contracts and employment conditions for GoSafe workers. However, GoSafe, which enjoys multimillion euro contracts from the State and the taxpayer, acts with impunity and ignores Labour Court recommendations, and it will not go to conciliation or recognise SIPTU. I want to know exactly what the Minister of State intends to do about that.

I also draw attention to a situation that arose in County Louth last week following an accident on the M1. I commend the members of An Garda Síochána on pursuing a number of individuals who took images of that crash site and they issued those responsible for taking images on their phones with fixed penalty notices. That is exactly why we need to address this moronic, idiotic and antisocial behaviour, as outlined in the legislation being brought forward by Deputy Duncan Smith in June. I look forward to that debate.

The Minister of State will be aware that Drogheda, Ireland's largest town, does not have a driving test centre and the Government has not delivered that driving test centre. The Road Safety Authority, in my opinion, has acted appallingly in its attitude to Drogheda. We had a temporary test centre and as the RSA decided not to renew that contract, Drogheda, Ireland's largest town, has been left with no driving test centre. It is a disgrace and shows the Government's lack of interest in Ireland's largest town. We cannot address all of the aspects of road safety if we are not providing driving test centres in major towns and cities like Drogheda. It is a disgrace and it needs to be addressed.

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