Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Some 92 people have been tragically killed on Irish roads so far this year. There had been 85 tragic road deaths by the same time last year. There have been 88 fatal collisions on Irish roads to date in 2012, compared with 76 fatal collisions during the same period in 2011. Tragically, seven people lost their lives on roads across the island of Ireland over the last June bank holiday weekend. Over the past decade, massive progress has been made in reducing the horrific carnage on our roads. In 2011, there were 186 deaths on Irish roads in comparison with 396 deaths in 2005. This does not include the accompanying number of devastating injuries, which can extend the suffering of families and individuals for decades.

An earlier analysis of road death figures highlighted that approximately 4,500 people died on Irish roads between 1996 and 2006, which exceeded the horrific death toll throughout the Troubles. Since the number of road deaths hit an appalling 396 in 2005, the number of road deaths has decreased to 365 in 2006; 338 in 2007; 279 in 2008; 238 in 2009; 212 in 2010; and 186 in 2011. The Road Safety Authority, which is outstandingly led by its chief executive, Mr. Noel Brett, and its chairman, Mr. Gay Byrne, has done an outstanding job on the road safety front during this period. Great campaigning road safety groups like PARC, which is based in County Donegal and is led by Ms Susan Grey and Ms Donna Price, have also played an major role in driving the road safety agenda.

One death on the roads each year is a death too many. Therefore, it is disturbing that the road death figures are inching up again. I understand that a new road safety strategy, to run from 2013 to 2020, is being prepared. The current strategy will end this year. Given the distressing rise in road deaths this year, I suggest that a reinvigorated road safety and enforcement campaign is needed now to prevent any further deterioration of the figures. One of the key lessons from other jurisdictions that have maintained good road safety records, such as Sweden, is that complacency cannot be allowed to set in. High levels of enforcement and continuous enhancement of road safety standards must be maintained on an ongoing basis if we are not to allow road deaths and injuries to increase steadily again.

Given the need for continuous high levels of enforcement, grave concerns have been raised about the impact of current Garda cutbacks on road safety. It has been reported that 300 Garda patrol cars have been taken off the road this year. If that is true, it would be the highest number in years. The Minister, Deputy Shatter, told me last week that "on 31 December 2011 there were 375 vehicles allocated to the Garda traffic corps and there were 316 vehicles allocated to the traffic corps as at 1 June 2012". Some 337 gardaí volunteered to retire in the period up to February 2012. How many of them have left the traffic corps? What is the current number of personnel in the traffic corps? It seems to be difficult to obtain this information.

Has the new Garda roster had any impact on the traffic corps? It has been alleged that the introduction of the new roster has had a significantly negative impact on the operation of the traffic corps. Road safety groups like PARC have expressed serious concern about the impact of cutbacks on the level of general and mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints and on the number of breath tests being taken and tested. The Medical Bureau of Road Safety has reported a 20% decrease in the number of tests sent to it last year and in the previous year. It looks like less testing is taking place.

PARC has also highlighted the inexplicable delay in bringing on stream the 22 extra intoxilysers that were requested by the Garda last October to facilitate the lower drink driving limits. Some 86 intoxilysers were deemed necessary but only 64 were installed. Can the Minister confirm when the 22 missing intoxilysers will be made available to the Garda by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, having been tested and approved by the bureau in 2011? Why is it not standard procedure for the Department of Justice and Equality to facilitate the training of all gardaí in the use of intoxilysers, or at least to ensure there is a garda on every Garda roster, or in every Garda station, who is trained in the use of these devices? It is unacceptable that the budget of the Road Safety Authority, which is based in Ballina, has been subjected to serious cutbacks. High standards of road safety cannot be maintained if key monitoring, testing and enforcement agencies are not properly resourced.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, has asked me to apologise for his failure to be present for this debate. On his behalf and on my behalf, I thank Deputy Broughan for raising this important issue. Safety on our roads affects all of our lives. It is vital that every effort is made by everyone involved to ensure our roads are as safe as we can possibly make them. The reduction in the number of road deaths has been a positive trend in recent years. Following further reductions up to the end of May of this year, this month has unfortunately proven particularly tragic in terms of fatalities.

The implementation of the measures contained in the current road safety strategy has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of road fatalities in recent years. The strategy, which covers the period from 2007 to 2012, identified a number of actions to be completed by various stakeholder bodies to improve safety on our roads. The core objective of the current strategy is to reduce the number of road fatalities to no greater than 60 fatalities per million population by the end of 2012. That equates to an average of 21 fatalities per month, or 252 fatalities per annum. The number of fatalities first dropped to below 252 in 2009, when 238 deaths were recorded. This number dropped to 212 in 2010. The lowest ever number of road fatalities on Irish roads - 186 - was recorded in 2011. This represented an average of 16 road fatalities per month.

A report that was published by the European Commission recently shows that Ireland has moved ahead of Germany on road safety performance. We have significantly closed the gap on other leading countries. The report states that road fatalities in Ireland dropped by 13% between 2010 and 2011. As a result, Ireland has moved up to sixth in the road safety rankings within the EU, with 42 fatalities per million population. The EU average in 2011 was 62 deaths per million population. In 2006, when the current strategy was being developed, the total number of fatalities on our roads was 365. The reduction to the 2011 figure of 186 represents a remarkable achievement in such a short time and is down to a combination of a number of factors including standard of vehicles on the road, the upgrade of our road network and increased enforcement by the Garda. In addition, the Oireachtas has played its part, with the enactment of legislation targeted at specific areas such as drink driving. l am glad to say one of the first acts of this Government was to bring through the Dáil the Bill dealing with the mandatory testing of drivers for blood alcohol concentration levels.

Perhaps the biggest single contributor to the improvement in the safety on our roads has been the establishment of the Road Safety Authority. The RSA began its work only in 2006 but its effect was immediate. The many initiatives it has brought about in six years in all aspects of road safety have saved lives. A large number of people, perhaps without knowing it, will be glad of that.

Taken together, the 2007 road safety strategy has achieved its stated objective of reducing road fatalities to no more than 60 per million population, or 252 per annum. The figures for this year, however, and for this month alone, demonstrate that we must continue to examine the causes of collisions and redouble our efforts to reduce them further. Although we use figures as a means of measuring the success of the strategy, these are not just statistics. Death or serious injury to a family member, a loved one or a close friend can have devastating consequences and can affect lives way beyond those involved directly in collisions. We must never lose sight of this aspect.

Unfortunately, the number of road deaths this year, to yesterday, stands at 92, seven more than the figure on this date last year. In this month alone there have been 23 fatalities, the highest monthly figure since October 2010. There appears to be no reason for the increase this month. We can expect numbers of deaths to fluctuate throughout the year but must be cognisant of any possible change in trend. The Garda and the RSA have examined the details, seeking a pattern, but there is none. The deaths cover all age groups and occurred in all parts of the country. The annual decline in recent years has been very positive but we must never allow ourselves to become complacent. The statement, "one death on the road is one too many", has almost become a cliché but we must keep in mind that every life we save, through our individual or collective efforts, is worthwhile. Our actions as politicians, administrators, enforcement personnel or technical professionals have a direct effect on people's lives.

In terms of invigorating the national road safety campaign, the RSA is currently in the process of developing the next road safety strategy that will include measures to ensure that Ireland continues to build positively on road safety performance for the remainder of the decade and beyond. This strategy will seek to drive new and ongoing measures to ensure that our road safety standards do not slip. We have invested too much effort in road safety to allow that to happen. The RSA is working closely with the Department in drafting the next strategy, which will cover the period 2013 to 2020. Discussion with key stakeholders is taking place and a public consultation process has begun. I urge anybody who believes he or she has a contribution to make in this area to contact the RSA and provide an input. When the consultation processes have been completed, the RSA will submit draft proposals to the Minister later this year.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Minister of State. The balance of your statement will appear in the official record and if you like to refer to any items that you have not covered you can do so in the reply. We are over time.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I asked about the strength of the traffic corps and its current organisation. Perhaps the Minister of State might liaise with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, in order to provide me with some answers, even outside the Chamber.

I refer to learner drivers concerning whom the Minister, Deputy Shatter, recently gave me some figures. Some 45 learner drivers were involved in fatal collisions during the past three years, 26 of whom were killed in those collisions. The PARC road safety group, known very well to me and to the Minister of State's colleague and fellow Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, from the time the two of us were transport spokespersons, told me that when gardaí set up checkpoints during March and April of this year, they found that 43% of learner drivers had no accompanying driver and that a further 30% were driving without "L" plates, which is completely unacceptable. Will the Minister for Justice, or the Minister for Transport, Deputy Varadkar, take some action on that?

I have another query in respect of penalty points. We are told that some 300,000 people have been stopped on Irish roads who produced an Irish public driving licence but subsequently escaped having penalty points. In a previous arena, when the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, and I were covering transport we sought for penalty points to be applied to drivers from Northern Ireland. I am not sure if that has been achieved but the situation with other EU drivers presents an enormous problem because some non-Irish licence holders have been involved repeatedly in serious collisions. Has anything been done about that?

I refer to drug driving, a subject we used to discuss. We used to ask why we could not be more like the Australians and have the test that country has established in states such as Victoria and New South Wales. Has there been any change in that area?

Cultural attitudes to drink driving have changed, We saw this recently in the Minister of State's personal portfolio area during the European Championships which, unfortunately, did not offer a great national performance. One could see, however, that people did not risk driving to venues where they could see the game.

The Minister of State, Deputy Ring, is very active in the area of sports. Perhaps the Minister for Transport, Deputy Varadkar, should concentrate on the nitty gritty of his own portfolio and ensure that the key elements that need to be implemented in transport are implemented. After all, there is no transport capital programme. Most of the programme that Deputy O'Dowd and I covered has not been implemented.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Certain people lost their jobs.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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We could have been the senior and the junior. I would have been very happy with that. The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, has opinions on everything under the sun - except on transport. Seriously, we need some action. We do not want this year to go down as a bad year in terms of road casualties.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am the Minister of State with responsibility for sport and tourism and have full responsibility for sport. I wish to put that on the record, as I did yesterday. I do not mind accepting help-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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What about winning the All-Ireland?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy raised some very serious issues, as I stated in my response. There is a steering group in the Department which is looking at these and talking to all stakeholders. I will ask that group to report to the Deputy and to talk to the Minister for Justice and Equality. The Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Justice and Equality are interlinked and they must deal with this problem. Some of the questions the Deputy asked today are specific to the Department of Justice and Equality. However, the two Ministers, Deputies Shatter and Varadkar, have regular meetings and I am sure they discuss these matters.

The Medical Bureau of Road Safety is undertaking a study of all aspects of roadside drug testing, an issue I raised on many occasions when I was the Fine Gael Party spokesperson. It is very important. As many people are being killed on the roads because of drugs as because of drink and we should have the equipment to hand to test people on site to see if they are on drugs.

The Deputy is correct in respect of an astonishing figure. In 2006 there were 365 deaths, one for every day. I am glad to see that in 2011 the figure was 286, an improvement of almost 50%. The Deputy is correct about the figures for this month, which are very worrying. According to the Garda and the RSA there is no pattern. The deaths are represented by all age groups and in different parts of the country. We must be very vigilant. The RSA is planning a new safety strategy. I will ask the Minister and the RSA to do something about this because in recent years July has been the worst month of the year for road deaths.

I cannot answer some of the issues the Deputy raised, which come under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality. I will ask the steering group to ensure it raises them with the Minister because they are very important. Road deaths have an awful effect on families. There is no family in the country that has not been affected by a road death. I offer my sympathy today to anybody who has lost a loved one to a road death, this or any other year. I know families in my town and county who have been affected by such deaths for the rest of their lives. For every life we can save, for every garda who can do his or her duty and ensure that people on the roads are protected from those who are speeding or on drink or drugs, we are doing a good day's work. All the State agencies are working together to ensure we can take that percentage of deaths below 186. That is what we are working towards.