Written answers

Tuesday, 11 July 2023

Department of Justice and Equality

Road Traffic Accidents

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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557. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of fatal road traffic accidents in each county in the State in each of the past five years and to date in 2023. [34399/23]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Road safety remains a high priority for An Garda Síochána and for my Department, working closely in cooperation with the Department of Transport. Any serious injury or fatality is of great concern.

As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including road traffic offences. As Minister, I have no direct role in such matters.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of a number of Roads Safety Authority of Ireland related tables including the number of road deaths (fatalities) on the roads in Ireland between each year. However, it is worth noting that figures by county are currently only available between 2001 and 2021.

To be of assistance the CSO total 'Road Fatalities' statistics can be accessed at data.cso.ie/table/ROA11 and as of 11 July 2023 covers 2000 - May 2023.

Further statistics, data on 'Persons Killed and Injured' by county can be accessed at data.cso.ie/table/ROA15 and as of 11 July 2023 covers 2001 - 2021.

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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558. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of fatal road traffic accidents in each of the past five years and to date in 2023, where the deceased person or persons were not wearing seatbelts. [34400/23]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Road safety remains a high priority for An Garda Síochána and for my Department, working closely in cooperation with the Department of Transport. Any serious injury or fatality is of great concern.

As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including road traffic offences. As Minister, I have no direct role in such matters.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of a number of tables, based on information supplied by the Roads Safety Authority of Ireland, including the number of road deaths (fatalities) and the number of injured (casualties) on the roads in Ireland between each year.

To be of assistance, the CSO 'Road Fatalities' statistics can be accessed at and 'Persons Injured' .

I am further informed by the Garda Authorities that the below table displays a yearly breakdown of the number of deceased drivers and passengers confirmed to be not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the fatal road traffic collision.

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
30 26 26 27 20 10

Figures are based on incidents occurring from 1 January 2023 to 6 July 2023, inclusive. All information contained in this report is based upon operational data from the Pulse system as was available on 7 July 2023 and is liable to change.

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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559. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of fatal road traffic accidents in each of the past five years and to date in 2023, where the deceased person or persons were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the accident. [34401/23]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Road safety remains a high priority for An Garda Síochána and for my Department, working closely in cooperation with the Department of Transport. Any serious injury or fatality is of great concern.

As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including road traffic offences. As Minister, I have no direct role in such matters.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of a number of tables including the number of road deaths (fatalities) and the number of injured (casualties) on the roads in Ireland between each year, based on information provided by the Roads Safety Authority of Ireland.

To be of assistance the CSO 'Road Fatalities' statistics can be accessed at data.cso.ie/table/ROA11 and 'Persons Injured' data.cso.ie/table/ROA12.

As the Deputy can appreciate An Garda Síochána are unable to conduct roadside testing for deceased and in some cases seriously injured people.

I am advised by the Garda authorities that for fatal road traffic incidents, a postmortem would more likely establish the presence of any intoxicants. I am further advised that such information is not recorded on the PULSE system and as a result An Garda Síochána are not in a position to reliably provide the information requested by the Deputy.

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