Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister will be familiar with the survey released today that demonstrates road users are more likely to lose their lives in counties where the fewest penalty points are issued. County Monaghan, for example, has one of the lowest rates of penalty point issuance in the State but it is had more fatal accidents than any other county, with 13 per 100,000. County Kerry has had relatively few penalty points issued but its roads are among the most dangerous. There were nine fatal accidents per 100,000. There is a similar pattern in County Donegal. The Minister and I are well aware that speeding is by far the most common cause of the issuing of penalty points, and it is usually at the root of death and injury on the roads. The Road Safety Authority was unable to comment on the figures. I hope the Minister will be able to shed some light on them.

The county I am most familiar with, County Clare, is the one where penalty points are most likely to be issued to motorists. As a result, it has one of the lowest rates of death and injury on the roads. The figures suggest that a falling off in Garda enforcement in recent years is the main reason behind the statistics that have been put forward. AA Roadwatch is also of the view that there has been a reduction in the level of enforcement.

The Minister is very familiar with the interest group PARC, which has done excellent work highlighting the concerns of citizens, particularly those affected by death and injury on the roads. It continues to make the point that the falling off in Garda numbers, particularly in the traffic corps, is affecting significantly the rate of death and injury on the roads. The latest figures from the Garda suggest there was a 7% decrease between 2013 and 2014 in the size of the traffic corps. There has been an overall decrease of approximately 21% since 2011. That sets the stage for what is happening.

The survey brings into very clear focus a correlation between the issuance of penalty points and a reduced rate of death and injury on the roads. That was always expected to happen. It is the reason the Gatso vans were introduced initially, and then the GoSafe vans. It was a way of bolstering or increasing the level of detection. It was not meant to be the only method of detecting poor driver behaviour: it is meant to work in conjunction with an effective traffic corps as part of the work of the Garda.

While the GoSafe vans are working reasonably well in some counties, there are issues. The Minister is familiar with them, including those associated with the application of penalty points and the fact that, in some instances, District Court judges are interpreting the law in a particular manner, resulting in many of the cases being thrown out. If one considers the issues associated with the GoSafe vans and the associated litigation, in addition to the reduction in the size on the traffic corps, one realises they are leading to circumstances in which the Government will have to intervene, both by bolstering the law from the perspective of the GoSafe vans and by increasing the level of enforcement. An increase in the size of the traffic corps is warranted at this stage. I am anxious to hear the Minister's views on how he believes the matter can be addressed.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Dooley for raising this matter. I will address each of his points in turn having regard to the very valuable research published today in The Irish Timesby Carl O'Brien. I read it this morning. I will answer some of the questions the Deputy has put to me on the resources available to An Garda Síochána and other bodies concerned with road safety. Before doing so, I will set out the context. The penalty points system has worked well since its introduction in 2002. As the Deputy will be aware, over 70% of those who receive a fixed-charge notice pay the specified amount within 28 days. The main objective of the system is not to penalise people but to make them more aware of unsafe driving behaviour and to influence and change their behaviour. The year 2012 marked the tenth anniversary of the system. The review of the system at that landmark point resulted in the making of recommendations for the introduction of new offences and for changes to the number of penalty points to be applied to certain road traffic offences. When the review was completed, it was forwarded to the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. This led to some very important and helpful changes, which were signed into law last year through the Road Traffic Act 2014. The penalty points proposals in the Act represent the product of significant consideration and input from a wide variety of people and organisations. The offences for which penalty points were increased include speeding, driving while holding a mobile phone and dangerous overtaking.

The number of deaths on our roads is of major concern, particularly in the context of the increase in fatalities in 2013 in 2014, which marked the first increases in fatalities since 2005. We are well aware that the main causes of road crashes are distraction, excessive and inappropriate speed, intoxication and fatigue. We are examining these areas on an ongoing basis to identify measures that can be taken to address the causes of loss of life and injury on our roads.

There is no single reason that can be identified for the increase in road deaths in the past two years. Older and younger pedestrians are the most vulnerable. According to statistics produced by the RSA, urban roads are the most dangerous, with crossing the road emerging as the most dangerous situational factor. For these reasons, we need to treat statistics in this area with some degree of care. That said, the body of analysis assembled by Mr. O'Brien in The Irish Timestoday is very valuable and has led to an action step. I had discussions with the Road Safety Authority on this work today.

I must point out a potential flaw in the analysis while by no means seeking to denigrate the work in any manner because it leads to some points I want to consider further. One aspect of care that we should take on board is that the points data, although broken down by county, do not correspond to where the original road traffic offences actually took place. The points data just state where the driver is domiciled. Therefore, it is not possible at this stage to state definitively that points awarded in a specific county have been incurred while committing an offence in that county.

To use the Deputy's example, a driver may have been detected committing an offence in Dublin but, because the address on his or her licence is in County Clare, where the authority originally issued the licence, the points will be attributed to County Clare.

An Garda Síochána is committed to continuing to work closely with all road safety agencies to target enforcement in areas where fatalities are more likely to occur. I spoke to the road traffic authority about the conclusions developed by Mr. O'Brien in today's edition of The Irish Timesand I have asked for these to be examined further to see if there are any insights which can be used in our efforts to make our roads safer.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased the Minister has issued the clarification on where the penalty points might be obtained by a particular driver. Neither the statistics nor the report suggests that someone who is killed in a particular county is necessarily killed by someone from that county. The statistics can be over-interpreted.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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It is fair to say that it provides a good basis for risk profiling and it should feed into the RSA's approach to attempting to deal with the greatest risks. Where the level of penalty points issued is significantly below what the standard or mean average might be, enforcement in that county needs to be examined. When the correlation is done between an increase in deaths versus a reduced number of penalty points as a percentage basis in a county, it is worth looking at enforcement in the county rather than taking a general nationwide approach. A significant amount of work could be done in this area.

I wish to continue to support the approach taken by the Minister both in opposition and in government, which is a non-partisan approach to the issue of road safety. This should be done without getting into a political bunfight. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. However, we must look at the enforcement methodologies which are in place. This is the first time I have seen what I believe to be strong evidence linking death and injury with detection of poor driving activity by certain motorists. I hope the RSA will act on it in a manner which has the potential to be beneficial to all road users and that we will again see a gradual decline in the number of deaths and injury on the roads.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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On the use of the information and the observation I made on the link between where an offence could be committed and where the person is domiciled, that observation by no means gets in the way of my saying that this is a very good piece of work and it could well lead to observations and insights that might well be of help in making our roads safer. This is why I have asked the Road Safety Authority to look at the conclusions in today's report to see if they can be used. However, the authority did not need prompting on my part. As the Deputy knows, the authority is as committed to this objective as any of us and it will do this work.

I did not answer the Deputy's question on the level of resources available to the traffic corps and An Garda Síochána. It is my expectation that the size of the traffic corps will increase as the amount of resources and number of people available to An Garda Síochána increases over time, which will happen because An Garda Síochána has recommenced recruitment. Our roads are getting busier. They will get even busier in the future. The risk of injury and loss of life exists and will increase in response to the amount of additional activity on them. As the amount of resources which are available to An Garda Síochána grows, I expect to see the availability of staff and resources to the traffic corps grow in line with this.