Seanad debates
Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Road Safety
1:00 pm
Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome to the House the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne.
Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State is very welcome. I have been notified that the Minister for Transport is unavailable today. I thank the Minister of State for coming in to take this Commencement matter. I have done this on foot of correspondence I received from a retired commandant in the Army who has been talking to many of his friends about the proposals by TII to shut off lay-bys on motorways. Neither he nor I nor anybody I talk to can really understand why we would have it in very large print on many of the digital signs on motorway that motorists should pull in and take a nap for their own safety when they feel tired. This completely flies in the face of that. It is a ludicrous proposal by TII. I have seen another article in the newspaper where the Road Safety Authority has backed it as well. I cannot comprehend that for one second. I am not going to go on about it or take three minutes to talk about it. It is a ludicrous proposal which the Government needs to look at very smartly and with a fresh pair of eyes. It is the wrong message that we are going to make motorists drive for 60 minutes. If you are driving on a motorway and happen to get tired and it is 50 km to the next petrol station, and you cannot pull into the lay-by, that is nonsense. I have yet to see a lay-by where there have been queues up the road waiting to get into it. This is something that is not broken and does not need fixing. Our lay-bys are fit to accommodate motorists who need to use them as well as commercial and emergency vehicles.
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a chur ag tús an tseisiúin inniu. The Minister for Transport, who is unable to be present, has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding in relation to the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland under the Roads Acts and in line with the national development plan, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with local authorities. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.
The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility across the country, as well as compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects which are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an Exchequer allocation of circa €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing national roads over the ten-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade.
The new motorway service area policy is expected to be published by TII by the end of the year. This policy will update the existing policy, which was published in 2014. A draft of the new policy was released for public consultation in July. An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority were consulted during the preparation of the draft policy and are supportive of the changes outlined. Since the 2014 motorway service area policy was published, there has been a significant increase in service area provision along the motorway network, or adjacent to it. As such, the need for such lay-bys for non-professional drivers has reduced. Furthermore, there are significant safety concerns in relation to the usage of the lay-bys by non-HGV drivers. This is particularly the case where drivers or passengers or both leave their vehicles. HGV drivers however will continue to be permitted to use lay-bys.
Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)
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The statement the Minister of State has been given contains the line that "the need for such lay-bys for non-professional drivers has reduced".Have people stopped getting tired or are they less tired when they are driving? This whole thing is nonsensical and that is why I am taking the opportunity to raise it. It was mentioned in the reply that the motorway service area policy was published in 2014. That policy was published because of the need for lay-bys for people to pull in and take a nap for road safety purposes. This flies in the face of road safety. There is no way in the wide earthly world that I or many others in this House can support this policy. It is nonsense. I ask the Minister of State to take my very strong words back to the Minister. If given the opportunity, I am sure many other Senators in this House would agree with me that this proposal is nonsense. If we think we are doing this on the grounds of safety, we are very wrong and we are going down a very dangerous road.
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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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.