Results 1-20 of 1,854 for at speaker:Gerry Horkan

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: Like other colleagues, I want to pass on my sympathies to our colleague and friend Senator Rebecca Moynihan on the passing of her mother. Myself and Rebecca soldiered years ago on the old Dublin Mid-Leinster health forum. I have known her for a long time but only heard her sad news today through Senator Sherlock's comments. I am very sorry not to have been aware of it before now but I pass...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: Of course, I mentioned the people of Kerry and you are included in that. We all need to focus on road safety. The idea that people would buy seatbelt blockers to stop their seatbelts beeping is incredible given that one quarter of people who died in road crashes last year were not wearing a seatbelt. We should all make sure that we wear our seatbelts at all times.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Second Stage (16 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: I thank the Minister of State for a detailed and comprehensive opening statement. I commend him, his Department officials and the Minister on the work they are doing in this area. It is a comprehensive Bill, as the Minister of State outlined, and I do not believe there is any point in me rehashing and rereading everything he has just said. There are certain things I would like to stress...

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

Gerry Horkan: I am giving myself little bit more time. Whatever I give myself, I will give the same to the others who are here. We will have enough time to cover everybody. In regard to urban matters, I cycle in and out of here more often than not, but I am also a driver. I see a large amount of not orange light breaking but red light breaking. It is almost persistent and constant at many of the...

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

Gerry Horkan: I thank Mr. Harris for that. It is important to reiterate that many fatalities and crashes involve two-car collisions. One driver may not be at fault in any way and is the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and there was another driver who was misbehaving. Of course, road conditions are also a factor and there are other reasons crashes happen. We are not saying that...

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

Gerry Horkan: I thank Deputy O'Rourke. Everyone has spoken, so I will come back in for a second round if that is okay. I believe all the others will do that as well. It is really just to touch on points that might not have been mentioned earlier. I had to go and vote in the Seanad, so if I speak about anything that was already covered, the witnesses might let me know. There was a major issue with...

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

Gerry Horkan: I am not sure if anybody touched on e-scooters, which have been talked about frequently but particularly at the moment. The emphasis on the radio this morning seemed to be that e-scooters will be banned for under-16s. Is it correct to state that e-scooters are banned at the moment and that their use by anyone on public roads is illegal?

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

Gerry Horkan: The speed limit on the Stillorgan dual carriageway, the N11, was 60 km/h while on some of these rural roads that barely let two cars pass each other it is officially 80 km/h. That seemed to me unwise at the very least. I think the speed limit review will cover a lot of that. It will bring some of those 80 km/h limits down to 50 km/h and so on. Does the Commissioner wish to raise...

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

Gerry Horkan: Category W is a work vehicle. I do not know what the category is for a motorcycle. They do need a driving licence but, ultimately, they do not need any safety check of the vehicle at any frequency.

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

Gerry Horkan: I remember hearing a statistic years ago that lots of accidents happen within one mile of the driver's house. Is that still the case? Does it tend to be the local and familiar or people maybe chancing their arm coming back from the local pub late at night?

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

Gerry Horkan: We were always told that it was late at night, at the weekend, on rural roads and involved young people.

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

Gerry Horkan: As motorists, it would also be useful for us to know that there are times that, although we might not consider them risky, the statistics show they are. There are much larger volumes travelling at those times, so the percentage of accidents relevant to traffic might be less, but the incidents are still numerically high.

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

Gerry Horkan: ...and Kenny and other members and, in particular, the Commissioner. This is possibly the Commissioner's first time before the transport committee. He is very welcome. I hope it was not too traumatic. I thank Deputy Commissioner Hilman, who has been here a number of times. She is always welcome. On my behalf and on behalf of the committee, I thank them and the entire workforce for all...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: I want to touch briefly on Europe Day. I know that there were statements on Europe Day last week but I was in Moldova representing this Parliament as the convener of the Ireland-Moldova Parliamentary Friendship Group at an event which that country was holding for all of the various conveners of friendship groups across the EU. We remember hearing about what Ireland was like before we joined...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Gerry Horkan: The purpose of today's meeting is to meet with the Road Safety Authority, RSA, to discuss issues relating to road safety. I am pleased to welcome on behalf of the committee Mr. Sam Waide, chief executive officer, Mr. Brendan Walsh, chief operations officer, Mr. Michael Rowland, director of research, standards and assurance, Ms Nessa Kelly, director of strategy, performance and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...could probably talk for an hour, as I am sure many of the other members could, if we had the time, which we do not. I will just zone in on a couple of things you mentioned. You have referred to late nights, weekends, rural areas and young people. In the other document the RSA sent us, the additional briefing information, it points out the counties most affected. Tipperary was number...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Gerry Horkan: Sorry, fatigue surprised me. So 20% of people said they have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...were. There is one figure I would like our guests to provide to the committee after the meeting, namely, the number of people who are persistently reminded their NCT is due and who just ignore that and keep driving. It was quite a significant number. I know the RSA cannot tell because there is a two-year rollover, but there are cases where the car is taxed and is possibly insured but it...