Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chair. I will try to keep to three minutes. I welcome the Minister of State. This is an important discussion. At a time like this, we think of all the families who have been bereaved in the past 12 months and before that.

To make some points on road safety, I will start by homing in on the safe routes to school programme. It is a fantastic initiative. Unfortunately, there is a limited pot for works and a significant number of other schools would like to be included. It is important that more schools are given the opportunity to apply to participate in this programme. I know it will take several years for them to complete it.

I ask the Minister of State to address the inconsistency of the roll-out of speed bumps in local authority areas. Different counties have different rules. We need to have one rule across the country and not leave it to the local strategic policy committee, SPC, to decide. There are speed bumps in the villages in County Cavan but not in villages in my county. We need national criteria put in place in this regard.

On the road safety strategy, the Vision Zero campaign seeks to reduce deaths on our roads to nil by 2050. The best way to do this is by putting in proper road infrastructure. Reading about road traffic fatalities, a significant number happen on our national roads where there are head-on collisions. Putting in dual-carriageway or three-carriageway infrastructure with a centre median immediately cuts down the number of these types of deaths on our roads.

I also wish to highlight the announcement of significant investment in the N5. It has already been mentioned by Senator Dolan and Senator Murphy will probably also comment on it. Safety concerns are the main reason and priority for the provision of this extra funding. There is also the issue of improving access to the west and north west. Another point the Minister of State is well aware of is that to get to the N5 it is necessary to go through the N4, which is not up to standard. There have been 22 fatalities, 34 serious injuries and 218 minor injuries over the last 18 years. These are the safety concerns.