James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I look forward to working with the Deputy in this brief. His is Sinn Féin's spokesperson on transport and I know from the justice committee, where we worked together well, that he will be diligent in that regard. I look forward to continuing that relationship now that we are both in new roles.

I extend my sympathies to the families of those who sadly lost their lives over last weekend and the past night or two. I am sure everyone in the House will agree that one fatality is one too many. However, this is a complex area with many factors. The four main causes of road deaths are speeding, driver distraction, not wearing a seatbelt and intoxicated driving. These are behaviours that have been systematically addressed by the Road Traffic Act 2024, which was introduced by my predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and signed into law in April, followed in some cases where appropriate by regulations in May. Among other measures across vehicle types and scenarios, the Act legislates for safer default speed limits, which will first be rolled out on local roads this November, harsher penalties for those caught committing multiple driving offences, with multiple penalty points becoming applicable rather than just one set of points as was previously the case, and mandatory drug testing at the scene of a collision. The mandatory drug testing provisions were commenced on 31 May in time for the June bank holiday and the penalty point provisions are being worked towards commencement over the summer. The new speed limits will kick in on a staggered basis, with the focus being on local roads towards the end of this year.

The new legislation complements increased enforcement activity. The House will be aware that uniformed gardaí will now implement 30-minute shifts on road policing duties in the course of their normal shifts. This rostering was announced by the Commissioner and will have an impact.

The Deputy referred to patterns. I appreciate that one is one too many, but if I may, I will cite the statistics. We moved from a monthly average of 20 deaths in January, February and March to 11 in the second quarter of the year. This coincided with the introduction of the new road traffic legislation and the regulations flowing from that. The issue is going in the right way despite the recent tragedies.

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