Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will certainly say that to the Minister for Transport. He does tell me though that the belief is that the need for lay-bys has reduced due to the increase in the provision of service areas. Road safety inspections, carried out in accordance with the road infrastructure safety management directive, have highlighted lay-bys as an area of concern on safety grounds.

I understand the TII undertook usage monitoring surveys at various lay-bys and these surveys indicated that there was significant usage of lay-bys by HGVs. The TII then considered how best to operate and manage these parking lay-bys into the future. Where there are nearby service areas and usage of lay-bys is diminished, the reduction of the use of private car use of lay-bys will now take place. That is according to the TII.