Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise this issue. Last Monday night, I attended a meeting in the Devon Inn Hotel in Templeglantine which was attended by more than 200 local people. The meeting was in response to a number of fatalities that have occurred on the stretch of road down the hill at Barna. Only two weeks ago, a young 20 year old student, Liva Eglite, was killed on the road and in September three local men who were travelling in a taxi were also killed. Another person was killed since May this year, which comprises five fatalities on this stretch of road.

With regard to the alignment of the road, it is over 21 years since a section of the road which goes down the hill was upgraded. The road led into a bridge and the bridge was removed. There is now a double lane of traffic going up and down the hill. However, it leads into a bottleneck and it is at this section that all these fatalities occurred. There is grave concern about the safety of the N21 at Barna. The public meeting highlighted that concern and the fears of local people with regard to the lack of activity and commitment to addressing that safety hazard.

Representatives of the National Roads Authority, NRA, and Limerick County Council were invited to the meeting but did not attend. These public servants did not attend to answer the public's concerns. I corresponded by e-mail with the National Roads Authority about this. The reply I received thanked me for the invitation but respectfully informed me that its representatives would not be attending my meeting. In fact, the meeting was arranged by the general public and I was asked to attend, like every other public representative in the area.

I understand Limerick County Council has submitted a plan for a re-alignment scheme for the road to the NRA. I call on the NRA to ensure this is made a priority. I also ask the Minister to use his influence to ensure the proposals are acted on before any more deaths or serious injuries occur on that road. The NRA has responded to the council's proposal by stating that it will only be considered as part of works to be carried out in 2011 and that it would be subject to the overall budgetary constraints under which the authority must operate.

While I am fully aware of the budgetary situation we face, this issue must be a priority. It is a matter of life and death and has caused terrible tragedies for families both from the area and outside it. I do not say that lightly, but in the interests of safety. The re-alignment and upgrade of this stretch of road must be made a priority. Otherwise, we will be discussing this again in 12 months with more fatalities having occurred. That road has claimed lives each year. The local law abiding, decent people were so concerned that they have initiated a public campaign about it. I hope the Minister will give it the attention and concern it deserves and that the NRA will respond to the political direction of the Minister and the Government.

Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter for the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, and thank Deputy Ferris for raising it.

The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and the provision of Exchequer funding for the national roads programme element of Transport 21. Section 17 of the Roads Act 1993, as amended states the National Roads Authority, NRA, has a general duty to secure the provision of a safe and efficient network of national roads. Section 19, which is even more specific, provides for the NRA to prepare or arrange for the preparation of construction of improvement works on these roads and to allocate funding to such works. The Minister, therefore, has no direct role or function in the matter of providing funding or issuing directions to the NRA to work on specific sections of our national road network.

The NRA has an ongoing annual programme of safety improvements to the national roads network based on accident statistic data. It funds an extensive programme of engineering works with the aim of improving road safety and dealing with known collision clusters, formerly known as black spots, on national roads.

Over the past five years, an annual average of 120 locations have been the subject of remedial measures. It is proposed to complete over 150 schemes this year. Prioritisation of safety related works is determined on a national basis by the NRA; again, the Minister for Transport has no role or function in the specifics of this work.

Since 1997 the Government has provided in excess of €15 billion to develop the national road network. In that time, the NRA has made considerable progress in bringing the network up to standard. The NRA is reviewing its investment plans for the national roads network. The review is being carried out based on a commitment in the renewed programme for Government and taking into account available capital resources. As the House will appreciate, progress on particular road schemes will be dependent on the availability of funds within a significantly reduced capital budget.

Road safety is a key priority for the Government and this commitment is underpinned by the road safety strategy, 2007 to 2012. The strategy's primary aim is to reduce road deaths to no greater than 60 fatalities 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. In 2009, there was a total of 241 fatalities, an average of 20 per month. The emphasis now is on taking steps to ensure the good progress is continued for each of the remaining years of the strategy.

Responsibility for oversight of the implementation of the strategy rests with the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and involves participation from several Departments, An Garda Síochána and other agencies. Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 (Conferral of Functions) Order 2006, responsibility for the collection of information on road collisions lies with the RSA. Based on its statistics, the authority states road collisions are rarely caused by any one single factor. In most cases, collisions are caused by several factors, including human error in dealing with the driving conditions around which the collision occurred. According to the RSA road collision facts 2008, driver error is responsible for 90% of collisions, pedestrian error accounts for 6%, and road conditions account for 3%. It is obvious the personal responsibility of drivers plays a major role in road traffic collisions.

The RSA and An Garda Síochána recently rolled out the privatised safety cameras initiative to target speeding on all roads at all times of the day and night. The Minister for Transport understands the section of the N21 in question will be receiving ongoing attention from the new cameras at the direction of An Garda Síochána.

There is, of course, no acceptable number of road fatalities. The strategy, however, appears to be working. Road deaths dropped by nearly half between 1999 and 2009, inclusive. According to the third report of the European road safety performance index programme, run by the European Transport Safety Council, Ireland is now ranked sixth out of 27 EU member states in road deaths per million population. This compares well to our eighth position in 2001.

Unfortunately, there will be times when, no matter how good the roads are and no matter how strict the enforcement, the behaviour of the driver will be the determining factor as to whether an accident occurs and how serious it will be. As we get nearer to Christmas, and at a point where our accident statistics indicate we have reduced fatalities by a further 6% as against this time last year, I ask all drivers to slow down, take care and help to prevent further needless tragic loss of life.