Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has drafted the direction. We have to have a consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner. We cannot predict how long the Data Protection Commissioner will take to decide on what we are trying to do and to decide whether the commission endorses it. If we arrive at a position where the Data Protection Commissioner says that it is fine or we can do within certain constraints, we can issue the order right away. If the Data Protection Commissioner says we need further primary legislation to underpin this, we will need to publish and pass an amendment to the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, which we hope to do later this year. That is the situation we are in.

I agree that we need timely data. Our data should be as good as those of any other country. As I have used collision data in the past when I was a councillor to support requests for changes to road schemes or for sustainable travel schemes and so on, I see the value of it and I thank the Senator for raising the matter.