Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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202.To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he plans to conduct a review and or analysis of spending by his Department for Road Safety Strategy 2021-2024; to provide the key performance indicators of the strategy; if he will also provide the success and failure metrics associated with the Road Safety Strategy 2021-2024.[34074/24]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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In line with Section 7 of the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 and its statutory mandate to prepare road safety programmes, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) coordinated the development of the Government’s fifth Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, published in December 2021. The strategy is aligned with European Union objectives and aims to reduce serious injuries and fatalities on Irish roads by 50 per cent this decade, and to put Ireland on the pathway to achieving Vision Zero by 2050. Vision Zero is the aspiration to have as close as possible to zero road traffic fatalities or serious injuries. The Strategy is divided into three implementation phases, the first of which runs from 2021 to 2024.

Progress in delivering the strategy has been steady, with a majority of Phase 1 actions on track to be delivered by the end of this year. Key achievements include the signing into law of the Road Traffic and Roads Act in June 2023, the publication of the National Cycling Manual and the publication of the Speed Limit Review, both in September of last year and the Road Traffic Act 2024, which was signed into law in April.

The Strategy is led by the Minister and Department of Transport and delivered in partnership with a number of road safety partners, including the Road Safety Authority, An Garda Síochána and the Medical Bureau of Road Safety and other Government Departments, all of whom have responsibility for owning and delivering certain actions within the Action Plan, including the assignment of funding.

Within the Department, staff undertake detailed analyses on behalf of local authorities and invites applications from local authorities for low-cost safety schemes toward the end of each year for funding and implementation in the following year. This ensures targeted investment for road safety to areas of the network where it is needed most. In 2023, 55 locations of interest safety schemes were applied for and funded and in 2024, 60 locations of interest safety schemes were applied for and are being funded and implemented in the current financial year.

In addition to these locations of interest, local authorities also submit applications for safety schemes based on local knowledge and engineering expertise. These are also considered for funding and across 2022, 2023 and 2024 close to 900 low-cost safety schemes have been funded at a total of €31.2m. Other larger specific safety schemes up to €5m each can also be applied for and funded in each year.

The development of the Phase 2 Action plan which will target impactful actions under the safe system approach. A necessary exercise in developing the Phase 2 Action plan will be to review what worked and what did not work in Phase 1, and those investigations are currently underway.

In terms of the primary agency currently responsible for Road Safety messaging, I should add that I am currently engaged in a wider review of the RSA’s organisation and operations and a decision on its future remit and structure will be made shortly.