Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak about such an important issue. We have some opportunities to influence significant change in driver culture on Irish roads. The engineering solutions available to make roads safer will only go so far. While we need to see a significant modal shift away from car dependency to public transport, in lieu of a service that is universally efficient and reliable the reliance on cars will continue to prevail.

I believe in formal, informal and non-formal education. When it comes to an issue like driver competency and behaviour we could be doing much more to educate would-be drivers and road users in general in a variety of ways. If we want to be pre-emptive rather than reactive in our policy, we need to ensure people have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the issue. Youth work organisations around Ireland support young people to do their driver theory test, but they would not be resourced nearly enough to facilitate lessons or a more thorough educative process. We are aware of the great work being done in schools, but if we are committed to becoming drivers on Irish roads, is there an argument to suggest we should learn from the perspectives of cyclists and pedestrians to ensure we experience those issues before we are granted licences at all? I raise that as an example of some of the many opportunities we have in relation to policy over the next couple of years.

Turning to local issues and given engineering solutions will only get us so far, there is a stretch of road in Kildare from Clane to Carbury that is 16 km in length. It is probably the straightest stretch of road of that length in the country. It is straight for the entire 16 km. It takes one through Clane, Prosperous, Allenwood and Derrinturn. All are towns with a significant pedestrian population as well as schools and playgrounds. The road also forms part of the haul routes for the Bord na Móna recycling facility. The council has progressed detailed designs of junctions such as those at Dag Welds and Firmount Cross.

I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could speak to Kildare County Council about funding for those.

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