Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for road safety, Deputy Noel Ahern, for being in the House. I welcome this opportunity to speak on the national roads programme and road safety, particularly in light of an extremely serious road accident that occurred in my constituency in Slane, County Meath, on Monday. The accident involved a lorry, delivery truck and seven cars which collided on the main N2 road in the centre of the village. Some seven people and a young baby were brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and, thank God, nobody sustained serious injuries. My thoughts are with those caught up in the incident and the gardaí and emergency services who performed wonderful work on the day. However, this accident highlights yet again the need for a review of road safety on the N2 and in particular the urgent need for the NRA and the Minister to proceed with a bypass of Slane.

It is unfortunate that yet again the front page headlines of the Meath Chronicle describe an accident in Slane. I have another newspaper article from 1 September 2002 whose headline is: "Yet another road accident in Slane." As most people know, Slane is an elegant hillside village of outstanding natural beauty overlooking the Boyne. Many of the problems, although not all of them and not those this week, are caused by the N2 bridge over the River Boyne. This is a very historic village, proud to be associated with Francis Ledwidge and many other people from St. Erc down through the ages. However, over the past 40 years Slane has become choked with heavy traffic and this affects the social, community and commercial life of the village. More than 20 people have lost their lives at Slane bridge. There are accidents there on a regular basis. There was an accident on Monday in the centre of the village and only a few weeks ago there was another accident at the bridge. Accidents happen all the time and there will be more. I am glad I am speaking today in the absence of deaths or serious injuries there this week.

Residents and I have been in regular contact with the NRA and the Minister for Transport to ensure that the Slane bypass progresses. However, residents are not entirely happy with progress on the issue. The NRA has kept in touch with me on the issue and it has completed some studies and reviews, but it is time for shovels, spades, JCBs and earth movers to get this job under way. The argument in favour of it is utterly compelling. According to the census, people in my constituency are more likely than people anywhere else to own a car and to use it for daily commuting. That is a fact. This has clear implications for transport provision and infrastructure in the community. While that shows the need for even more public transport than we have, it has implications for road safety. Meath has the fastest growing population of any county outside Dublin. It has grown by more than 22% in the past seven years.

When complete, the Slane bypass would enable motorists to bypass Slane and also remove rat-running traffic from surrounding county roads. However, the M1 connects very conveniently to Ardee for traffic which needs to go north of Ardee up to County Monaghan and beyond, but that traffic does not use the M1. There are issues for the NRA and Meath County Council to discuss outside this Chamber and I would like the Minister to bring that to their attention. There are arguments to ban lorries from the village at certain times of the day and the Minister may refer that to the NRA because that is an issue for it.

A large amount of money has been allocated for roads, as has just been discussed, and it is very important to keep building and planning our roads with the primary objective of reducing carnage, preventing accidents and allowing communities such as Slane to grow, prosper and celebrate, and to develop the important heritage they have in that village.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Thomas Byrne for raising the matter. The Government already has a policy which provides for priority to be given to safety in our road networks around the country. This is reflected in the significant amounts of funding provided for our national road network in recent years. In the three years, 2006 to 2008, almost €5 billion was invested in capital projects related to the national road network, with a further €1.44 billion being invested this year. All this funding is resulting in significant improvements being made to our road infrastructure, which is most readily seen in the work under way on the major inter urban, MIU, routes between Dublin and Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and the Border. The MIU between Dublin and the Border has been completed and work is under way on the remainder, with sections along those routes open to traffic.

All five routes will be open to traffic by end 2010. In addition to enhancing prospects for economic development, particularly in the current economic environment, stimulating increased tourism and improving access within regions, better roads also deliver significant safety benefits. High quality dual carriageways and motorways are proven to be seven times safer than the roads they replace. By opening more than 150 km of new roads in 2009, we will make a significant contribution to the safety of our national road network. The National Road Authority, NRA, also uses part of its annual funding allocation to identify and improve sections of road, which are the scenes of accidents.

I acknowledge the Deputy's comments on the recent road accident in Slane. Specific projects are a matter for the NRA rather than the Minister but €500,000 has been allocated this year by the authority for the planning of the Slane bypass. Planning of the project must be approved before it can be constructed. Funding will be considered but that will depend on the economic climate at the time. However, significant funding has been allocated to the planning side this year.

Bigger and better roads are only one aspect of improving road safety. A tangible difference can be made only if each and every road user takes personal responsibility and drives carefully and at a speed appropriate to the conditions. Much work has been achieved to improve driver behaviour and training through the work of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, in the past few years and the road safety strategy, which was approved by Government in October 2007. It contains 126 different actions or initiatives under the headings of education, enforcement, engineering and evaluation with a number of different agencies having responsibility and target completion dates.

The strategy's primary target is to reduce road deaths to not more than 60 per million of population by the end of 2012, which equates to an average of 21 road deaths per month or 252 deaths per year. The average number of road deaths per month in 2007 was 28 and last year the number reduced to 23. The first two months of this year were good but this month, up to last weekend, was bad. This week was better but, up to last weekend, this month was the worst so far this year. The strategy is being successfully implemented across a range of agencies and there has been a sustained reduction in the number of people killed on our roads.

The penalty points system and the introduction of mandatory testing of drivers for alcohol, coupled with high visibility enforcement by the Garda, have lead to significant reductions in fatalities. The increased levels of enforcement measures by the Garda has led to a change in attitude and a visible change in behaviour, an improvement in driving habits and a reduction in the number of people who senselessly drive while intoxicated. The lowest number of road deaths on record, at 279, occurred last year. Records began in the late 1950s. The worst year was 1972 when 670 people were killed. Both injuries and fatalities must be considered in conjunction with the overall population and the number of vehicles on the road, both of which have increased in recent years — 1 million additional vehicles in ten years. Injuries and fatalities relative to population and vehicle numbers have declined noticeably in recent years. In the past decade fatalities as measured against the number of vehicles have more than halved, which is the result of a combination of both the road safety and road investment programmes.

While the number of fatalities has reduced, the loss of even one life on our roads is one too many and it is a tragedy. I acknowledge the Deputy's comments. Driving through Slane village is a particular problem. Money is being spent on the planning of the bypass this year and, as soon as that is ready, the project will be in the pot for completion.