Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)

Colette Campbell, Theresa Morgan and Bernie Cranley are the names of three of the five women who so tragically lost their lives over the weekend on Irish roads. A driver, three pedestrians and a cyclist, these women were killed in counties Clare, Meath, Wexford, Louth and Tyrone, four within an eight-hour period, bringing the number of fatalities on our roads so far this year to 67, including 19 pedestrians and six pedal cyclists. It is clear we have serious concerns and issues we have to address on our roads, particularly when it comes to more vulnerable road users like the elderly, cyclists, pedestrians and the very young. We may never know what happened in each of those separate incidents that resulted in such heartbreaking loss for each of those five families but, as was said after the tragic death of Garda Kevin Flatley weeks ago, we need a drastic reset with regard to our safety measures and how we view those we share our busy and ever more dangerous roads with. It is not only down to safety measures and enforcement either. Drivers need to be educated about sharing the road and respecting pedestrians and cyclists. We need to enforce rules against speeding, mobile phone use and illegal parking on footpaths or cycle lanes. We may need stricter penalties for dangerous driving behaviours, particularly in pedestrian-heavy zones. With that in mind, I invite the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, to the House to debate what measures we need to take to protect the more vulnerable road users, be that through improved lighting, wider paths and cycle paths, longer crossing times at pedestrian crossings or whatever it might take to stop these road deaths in their tracks.