Results 421-440 of 3,996 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (16 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: 53. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on his Department's work on road safety, and his plans to tackle the continuing rise in road fatalities. [22230/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (16 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: I want to get an update on the Department's work on road safety and the continued tragedy we have on our roads, with so many fatalities. Another man passed away last night after an incident in County Donegal. Too many families around the country are losing their loved ones and suffering the tragedies of road collisions and accidents. People are dealing with terrible injuries. We have been...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (16 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State. I am aware of that legislation and its passage. I would like clarity regarding the regulations for local authorities. I understand that local authorities will have a major role here, particularly in working out what speed limits are appropriate for particular stretches of road. Many of them are too high and need to come down but many of them may be quite...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (16 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: That is okay, but I did not hear from the Minister of State as to when the legislation will be implemented to ensure that the capabilities of these cameras can actually be used for something that will make a big difference. We hope to tease that out further in the future. The Minister recently informed the media that red light cameras, for motorists who run red lights, will be up and...

Road Safety and Maintenance: Motion [Private Members] (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. We have discussed the issue of road safety many times in this House over the past number of months. To date this year, there have been 72 funerals of people who have died on our roads. People who have been seriously injured are probably a multiple of that, and the impact that has on communities is something that is very distressful...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Chair and I thank the Commissioner for his opening statement and his engagement on what is a very important and critical issue for so many people . As was stated, there have been 75 deaths on the roads so far this year and many people have been injured. We all recognise there are multiple factors involved in how we can tackle this problem. Enforcement is a part of it, but it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Is that to meet the additional numbers the force is seeking? Obviously, a number of gardaí will retire as well. When the 75 recruits come in, how many corresponding officers will be lost to retirement or whatever? Is An Garda Síochána running to stand still?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Another issue I want to raise in this regard is the duties and functions of the road policing unit. Are there particular parts of roads that would be seen as danger areas even though there may not have been a collision, or numerous collisions, there? We are often contacted by people in communities who say there are regular near misses and issues on a particular stretch of road. When we go...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Is there a way of making formal recommendations or is it merely a case of a conversation taking place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Do roads policing gardaí sit on that group?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Are those groups established in each local authority?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Okay. I would like to mention another issue that has come up. Every time there is an incident on the roads, we hear gardaí appealing for dashcam footage to be uploaded or sent to them. There are two sides to that. First, the number of Garda vehicles that have dashcams is an issue. I know that the new vehicles which are being purchased have dashcams. Is any effort being made to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Are there any issues with footage like that being used as evidence? Could there be difficulties around that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Ms Hilman mentioned the expansion of hours for the GoSafe vans. That is fine, but I have always regarded them as one-trick ponies, unfortunately. They watch one thing and that is speed whereas a member of An Garda Síochána monitoring traffic monitors everything. If there are people moving drugs, travelling in a stolen car, stealing farm machinery or up to anything, gardaí...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: Deputy O'Rourke is next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: The witnesses stated that their new drug wipe test was not only portable, but delivered faster results on the list of drugs it detected. From an evidential point of view, is that test sufficient or, as with alcohol, does the person have to be taken into the station to be given a blood or urine test?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: We have always heard that, when a person drinks alcohol, the level reduces every hour afterwards because alcohol is essentially water soluble whereas many drugs remain in people’s fat cells. At least, that is what I have heard. The witnesses might confirm or deny it. If a person takes drugs at the weekend, those drugs would still be in his or her system three, four or five days...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: If a person consumed cannabis on a Saturday evening, it would likely be detected the following Tuesday morning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Martin Kenny: It is up to five or six times more expensive.