John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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1869. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the Ministerial Committee on Transport met recently; if so, the outcome of the meeting; if the mid term review regarding the road safety strategy 2013 to 2020 has been published by the Road Safety Authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27990/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The main purpose and the intended outcome of the Ministerial Committee on Road Safety is to examine road fatality/serious injuries trends, to review implementation of the Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020, and to provide an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss and put forward orientations, in addition to giving feedback to other stakeholders on relevant road safety issues, and to assist in refining road safety policies and programmes.

The Ministerial Committee on Road Safety has held twice yearly meetings since 2013 up to end 2016. I have increased the frequency of these meeting to at least quarterly. The Committee has already held two meetings in quarter one 2017 with a further meeting held on 22 May 2017, and I am holding a further meeting next month to keep up the momentum regarding road safety.  I am satisfied that the Committee is playing a key role in information sharing, facilitating discussions, and in assisting in refinements of policies between road safety stakeholders.  I am pleased that fatalities are down 15 as at Tuesday 13 June 2016 by comparison with the same period last year.   

Last November I held a mid-term review of the Road Safety Strategy as we were roughly at the half way point of the Government's eight year Road Safety Strategy (2013-2020). The purpose of the review was to oversee the implementation of the Road Safety Strategy, to examine the Road Traffic Fatality / Serious Injury Trends and to determine what actions we can implement to reduce the incidences in these trends.

I expect to receive a draft of the review from the Road Safety Authority for my consideration shortly.