Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. I wish to raise an important issue of road safety. As the Minister of State will probably be aware – or perhaps he is not – the Road Safety Authority, RSA, does not release data about collisions to researchers and it has not done so for years. We need better research on road safety to save lives and the key indicator of safety on a road is the number of collisions. However, the RSA is not releasing incident-level data. It is especially important to get data on the lower-level incidents. Incidents that result in death will be reported on in the media, so researchers are able to fill in some of the blanks that way. However, the data on the number of lower-level incidents are much harder to come by. The best that the RSA is doing now is provisional data that is aggregated to the level of counties, which, let us face it, is of very little use to researchers looking at the safety of specific roads.

When accidents occur, we know that much data are collected by the Garda – GPRS, the type of road, the weather conditions and who was at fault. All of this would be immensely useful in locating black spots and making our roads safer.

The RSA used to share data on an online map up until 2016. It appears now to be using the excuse of the general data protection regulation, GDPR. We can all cite many examples of agencies that seem to want to hide behind GDPR when it suits them. However, this is the first situation I have come across where an agency in question is starting to use GDPR as an excuse two years before the GDPR came into effect.

In other jurisdictions, the data are available in a timely manner. Researchers can log on to the portal in the North, for example, and get figures for the last month. The same is the case in France, where GDPR applies. Therefore, clearly, the argument about GDPR just does not stack up. Meanwhile, I heard an example of one researcher who is trying to conduct a study using Irish data, but the latest they could find was from 2017 – six years out of date.

In March of last year, a spokesperson for the RSA told the Dublin Inquirer that the body was conducting an internal review on how GDPR impacted on how location data could be shared. We are still awaiting the outcome of that review 12 months later. It is five years since GDPR came into effect and seven years since the RSA started applying GDPR.

Dublin City Council requested the data on a number of collisions. Again, its committee was rebuffed. Even the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland do not have access to the information. This is simply not acceptable when our transport system is in the middle of a crucial overhaul that we all agree has to happen in order for us to reach our emissions targets. It addition, it is something that we all want to happen in terms of the gridlock that we see in our city. If we want to design roads, cycling infrastructure and active transport, we have to have those data.

I looked at the parliamentary responses when this was queried previously. It seems to be the case that the Minister puts the blame back on the RSA to sort it out. It is not good enough. Under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, it is clear that the Minister has responsibility for this issue.

Will the Minister use the powers available to the Government to direct the RSA to publish and distribute the statistics about road safety that our researchers are crying out for and that are particularly relevant to the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland?

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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This is an important matter. I agree that having good collision data on road traffic incidents is absolutely vital to being able to bring down the rates overall and protect people.

The Road Safety Authority, in addition to providing a number of essential services, is responsible for public awareness and education in the road safety area. It is also the body with statutory responsibility for preparing our national road safety strategies, such as the current one, which runs until 2023. The RSA is also a centre of expertise nationally on road safety and, as such, provides advice to the Department, as well as to other relevant agencies. As a result, it is essential for the RSA to be able to conduct research and analysis in the area of road safety in order to perform its function.

It is important to emphasise that the RSA does publish a great deal of statistical material and analysis on road safety matters, which can be found on its website. This is an invaluable resource for anyone concerned with the area of road safety in Ireland. I want to stress this point, lest anyone might think that the RSA is not publishing statistics on road safety. In fact, it has published a great deal and continues to do so.

However, there is one very specific and very important issue where difficulties have arisen and where the Senator is quite right to refer to section 8. The Garda conducts investigations into road traffic collisions and produces detailed collision reports. These reports provide essential information on the causes of collisions, which in turn indicates the responses needed if we are to prevent future collisions. As such, the reports of these Garda investigations play an important role in road safety research.

The RSA has, in the past, received these data from the Garda but, following a review by An Garda Síochána, queries were raised about the appropriateness of sharing the data in the light of GDPR. The reason is that some collision reports, although not all, contain personally identifiable data of living persons. Even if names are not referred to in the reports, it might be possible to combine some of these reports with publicly available data and, in effect, identify a person. An Garda Síochána wishes to continue sharing these reports with the RSA but it is understandably concerned about the GDPR implications.

Following discussions between the Garda, the RSA and the Department, it appears that a way forward may be offered by section 8(1) of the Road Safety Authority Act. This allows the Minister to direct the RSA to gather and distribute information and statistics on road safety and to distribute the information to appropriate bodies to assist with national or international planning. Since the Act was passed in 2006, there has never been any such specific direction. Discussions between the RSA, the Garda and the Department have indicated that the issuing of such a direction in relation to the collision reports may resolve the issue.

Any proposal relating to possible sharing of personal data must be subject in the first place to consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner. A draft direction under section 8 has now been prepared by the Department, which is currently engaged in a process of consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner. When this consultation is concluded and if the outcome is favourable, a direction will be signed quickly to ensure the flow of the collision reports in question. Should the Data Protection Commission, DPC, not be satisfied with this approach following consultation, the Department will have to consider other ways of resolving the matter. This would most likely involve an amendment to the Road Safety Authority Act 2006.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that now we are getting an acceptance that the Road Safety Authority Act allows for the Minister to issue that direction to the RSA. However, I am not sensing any urgency about it. It is 12 months since the review took place. This is happening in every other European country; they are able to give those monthly accessible data. We need to see a little bit of urgency around making sure. We are in that critical moment of transforming our road network and trying to encourage people to get active and get out of their cars and cycle and walk. We know the key to that is making it safer for them to do so. I would like to see some urgency, but I appreciate the fact that the Minister of State accepted that the Minister has the powers to do it. I hope that the resources will be made available to the RSA when that direction is given and the authority can do it in a speedy manner.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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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.